Lie to Me
by Why so Sirius1236
Summary: The bad guys were dead. They had been for several months now. but why did he still feel the worst was yet to come?  Third Installment in Loki/Veronica saga. Loki/OC, possible Thor/Jane, and, of course, the Avengers. WRITTEN BEFORE MOVIE CAME OUT
1. Prologue

**Hello everybody! :D **

**Okay. Here is yet another installment in the saga of Veronica and Loki (Damn, that sounded hokey, didn't it? Oh well) **

**As with "Out of Silence" the first few chapters will be from third person POV to set the stage. Then we will move back into the Veronica and Loki perspective. **

**Another thing… yeah this is an X-men cross over with Thor. I didn't want to put it in the crossover section seeing as the first two stories were strictly Thor and Avengers stuff. You all can live with that, right? O.O most of it will be Avengers but… yeah. Didn't want to make anyone mad… **

**So. Without further ado, I give you the third installment of Veronica and Loki, "Lie to Me" **

PROLOGUE

The long, cold hallway was brightly lit with fluorescent lights as a tall man sauntered down it. As the figure passed in front of a window, the man caught a glimpse of his reflection and suppressed an evil grin. A pointed nose, high cheek bones, and aristocratic pallor provided the basic features as well as collar length, black hair slicked back in an almost comical fashion.

The man kept walking down the hall, encountering no one. A smirk passed over ghastly thin lips as the man made it to the end of the hallway. A huge vault door, at least ten feet in width was embedded in the white sheetrock.

The man moved a booted foot to tap the sleeping guard awake… and smirked to see the look of utter surprise.

"Mr.- um- Laufeyson," the guard sputtered, trying to get up. "I- uh- you aren't authorized to be down here, sir."

The smirk reappeared as a gloved hand raised high over Loki's head, a knife appearing out of nowhere, and descended quickly into the guard's head.

Just like that, the old security guard fell to the ground. With nimble fingers, Loki typed in a code onto a huge keypad next to the vault door. With a hiss, the door opened wide and a blast of cold air creeped out.

The man walked into the freezer-like space, scanning the area for what he was there for. His eyes landed on the one crate in the room.

Walking up to it, he felt power surge from it.

Grabbing a random pry-bar, the man flipped the lid off with relative ease. When he looked inside, a red-glow cast over his face… and for the slightest second, yellow irises glowed where green eyes should have been. But that was over quickly as he reached in for the glowing red orb.

Stowing it in his cape, he turned on his heel, walked past the dead guard, down the hallway, and stopped to wait for the elevator. He made sure to look up at the security camera now trained on him before he stepped through the sliding doors.

When the elevator doors opened again, Loki strode out into the lobby of Avenger Tower.

Just as Loki made it to the front desk of the lobby of SHIELD headquarters, a voice sounded from behind him.

"Hey!" a man of medium height with dark hair and goatee was coming up behind him. "What the hell do you think you're doing here? Aren't you supposed to be on maternity leave with your sweetheart? I'll have you know that getting that beach house for you two wasn't exactly a piece of cake."

Loki rolled his eyes at the human… then proceeded to kick him square in the chest, sending him back a good distance. He collided with the front desk, falling over unconscious. Once again, the figure looked up into a security camera, ensuring the face of Loki Laufeyson would be seen.

Taking out the front desk guard was too simple, really. A knife to the chest and Loki was home free with the precious item of interest tucked safely away. A black sedan waited a few blocks down. The man slipped inside, telling the driver to go.

It was a good thing too. Because, right as the sirens started and the get-away car took off, the pale skin of Loki Laufeyson seemingly melted from the thief that had just penetrated SHIELD and revealed skin of a deep blue complexion, marked by intricate tattoos.

Emerald green eyes turned to gold as the transformation came to a completion and ebony hair turned bright red.

"Well done, my dear. Well done," an old, grandfatherly voice came from her right.

"It was nearly too easy," the mutant said arrogantly.

"Ah. My dear Mystique. Do you ever learn? Never wish for harder battles. The harder ones will come soon enough. Phase one is now complete. We have the last hybrid egg. Now we wait." As the man said this, he pulled the glowing red orb from the sac.

Mystique allowed herself a small smile to cross her blue lips and gold eyes glinted in the dark interior of the car. "Yes sir."

ooOOoo

Loki sat upright in bed, burying his face in his hands and wiping sweat form his brow. He had been certain that something was amiss, but everything seemed right as rain now that he was fully awake. He looked over to Veronica, sleeping soundly for the first time in weeks.

Rose's room was quiet for once, and Loki got up to check on his sleeping daughter.

The baby was now six months old, just starting to hold her head up. Long dark eyelashes splayed out over her cheeks and she had a thumb in her mouth. Her other hand was open, revealing the small blue circle marked on it.

Loki stroked her cheek with a long finger and her little face twitched reflexively at his touch. He let out a small smile as he brought his hand back up. Asleep she looked so much like him, but when those little crystal blue eyes opened all he could see was his wife, Veronica.

Turning to head back down the hall, he let out a sigh of relief. Everything was fine. Nothing was going to change that. Oberon was long gone and so was Hel. Everything should have been fine, right? But then why did he still have a sinking feeling that things were about to get much worse. Far worse than they ever had…

**Annnndddd cue the dramatic music! Reviews are appreciated, guys :D **

**The actual chapters will be much longer, just to let yall know... so... **


	2. Chapter 2

~Veronica~

I had been startled awake as Loki sat bolt upright in the bed. I noticed when he had gotten up to check on Rose. I nestled back under the covers only when I knew he was back in the room with me.

"Is the baby okay?" I mumbled as I felt his arms wrap around me securely.

"She is," he replied, kissing the top of my head. I was fully awake now. His touch was enough to accomplish that.

"Good," I replied, closing my eyes as I drifted to sleep in his arms once more. ..

As usual, the morning came too soon. I was awakened by a small, inquisitive "ehh" sound from Rose's room. I held my breath, hoping she was talking in her sleep and I would be able to get a bit more rest.

No such luck. As the little noises came in higher frequencies I knew I wouldn't be able to put off getting up much longer.

I padded down the hall, letting Loki sleep a bit longer.

"You are just so stubborn!" I said playfully as the spitting image of myself looked up at me. I picked Rose up and spun slowly around with her. She let out a little giggle. "Just like your father," I whispered, bringing our foreheads together.

"I would say her mother is a stubborn one as well," Loki's calm voice came from the doorway.

I looked over at him. "Well then she is sure to be, isn't she? What with two parents contributing the stubborn gene?" God, I was such a nerd…

Loki smiled at me, then walked over to take Little Rose from my arms.

As soon as his hand reached for her, however, he recoiled immediately.

My eyes went wide as I looked from him to her quickly. "What is it, Loki?" He was looking at her in surprise… no, horror. "Loki, what's wrong?"

It didn't take long for me to figure it out as I looked at the little baby in my arms slowly turning blue when near her father and returning to normal when he pulled away. She kept smiling the whole time, a happy, one-toothed grin plastered on her little face.

Loki looked at me. This had never happened before, and the baby was nearly six months old now. I shrugged. "Well, it looks as though she has more of her father's genes than we thought, honey."

Loki relaxed. Slightly. When he took her in his arms again, her pale skin tinged ever so slightly blue, but other than that she looked just fine. I gave him a nod of encouragement.

ooOOoo

I couldn't help but smile as I looked out the kitchen window to see Loki and Rose together by the ocean. He held her by her hands, letting her feet dangle into the cerulean waves as they washed up onshore. When a wave came he would lift her up just enough to keep the hem of her pants from getting wet, then let her back down, soliciting a round of giggles each time. Her little baby legs kept kicking like she was really trying to swim.

Another thing caught my attention. As her toes touched the water, the area surrounding her feet seemed to freeze slightly and morph back into liquid as she was pulled from it.

I dried the dish I had been washing and set it down in the rack in the sink. I was on my way out the door to call Loki in for lunch when the phone rang.

I seriously considered letting the machine get it, but as a member of SHIELD, I felt obligated to take the call. It was probably just Tony calling to harass me or Loki…

Sure enough, Tony Stark's name popped up on the caller I.D. I rolled my eyes, putting the phone down and letting it ring. I was back at the door when the machine picked up.

"Veronica? Hey, Sunshine. Pick up. It's Tony." My heart skipped a beat at the stress in the billionaire's voice. Tony Stark was _never_ stressed. _Ever_.

I cut the message off and picked up the phone to answer it. "What, Tony?"

The voice on the other end of the line let out a stream of words. "Where's Loki? Do you know his whereabouts?"

I rolled my eyes. "Of course. He's outside with Rose right now."

"There was a break-in last night. Your husband broke into SHIELD and took the hybrid egg that we froze last year. Fury's got a warrant out for his arrest."

I nearly dropped the phone. Loki had been by me all of last night. There was no way he could have gotten in and out of SHIELD without me knowing… or was there? My thoughts lingered on the brief absence I had noticed. But it couldn't have been more than five minutes. And he had gone to check on the baby…

"I think you're wrong, Tony. He didn't leave-"

"The douche knocked me clean out, killed a bunch of other people, and took off with the egg!" Stark's voice rose in volume.

"I still-"

"We got it on video, Veronica."

I inhaled sharply. "No."

"Uh. Yeah." Tony's voice radiated pissed off billionaire. "I'm watching myself get my ass kicked right now on a huge television. Fury keeps insisting we replay it over and over for evidence and it is most definitely Loki."

I looked out the window, taking in the happy image of Loki and my daughter playing in the surf.

Tears pooled in my eyes and I blinked them away angrily. "I can't believe that," I whispered. I wasn't sure Tony had heard me at first, but his response wasn't what I was expecting at all.

"Come back to HQ. We'll show you."

"And what of my daughter? If Loki is the dangerous being you claim he is I can't very well leave her here with him."

Another voice on the line answered me. "That won't be necessary, Parker. I can assure you Loki is under control," Nick fury's voice sounded through the line and penetrated deep into my being. Somehow I knew the comment wasn't meant to reassure…

Next thing I knew, Loki was coming through the doors with little Rose fast asleep in his arms. He was smiling, a truly happy smile that reached his eyes. I loved it when he smiled like that…

"I have to go," I said quietly as I hung the phone back on the hook ignoring Fury's protests.

Loki looked from me to the phone as he made his way down the hall to Rose's room.

I stayed where I was for a moment before walking back to finish lunch. What had Loki been up to last night? There was no way it could have been anyone other than him if it was on tape. Oberon was dead and he had been the only being I knew of that could shape shift…

I tensed unconsciously when I felt cold arms wrap around me from behind, resting at my stomach. My hand gripped the spatula I was using.

"What's wrong, Love?" Loki's voice whispered into my ear. I shivered.

"Nothing," I replied as I shrugged out from his grasp. I wasn't being fair and I knew it, but part of me was still worried that Loki had snuck into SHIELD last night. The other part told me he hadn't, that he wouldn't dare jeopardize the family we had started with another stupid take-over-the-world plot.

I scooped the quesadillas I had been making up with the spatula and plopped them onto a plate. "There's soda in the fridge," I said pointedly.

Loki looked at me for a moment before walking over to open the refrigerator and grabbing two cans.

He looked like he was about to say something else, but before he could, the look on my face stopped him in his tracks.

A small, red laser beam was shining straight through the glass of the window and was aimed right at his chest. "Duck!" I said quickly, desperately.

In a matter of seconds, he had ducked down and a bullet had shot through the glass window and straight at the place he had just been. He stayed down, and I raced down the hall to the baby. She was crying and I picked her up quickly as I made my way back out to where Loki had been in the kitchen.

But, instead of making it back, I rammed straight into the chest of a masked figure, all in black with a bulletproof vest. I didn't notice the SHIELD badge on his chest until after I had slung a bit of electricity at him from the electrical socket behind him.

SHIELD was here, trying to arrest Loki. I ran past the unconscious agent, Rose crying the whole way in my arms, to stand in front of Loki. Agents were coming in and it would be incredibly stupid to try to kill any of them.

I turned to Loki as I realized this. "Go," I said. "Now. They are here for you. I'll contact you when I can. Get yourself to safety." We were out of earshot of the agents still, especially given the amount of racket they were making as they invaded our home.

He looked like he wanted to protest, but he read my thoughts and realization hit him. He nodded once. "We will fix this," he said quickly before kissing me and vaporizing into thin air.

"Good morning, Parker," Fury's voice came from the doorway. Rose continued to scream in my arms.

**And so it begins again… **

**Review guys! I would love to hear everyone's thoughts! And sorry it took me longer than usual to update… school is stupid. That's all I can say… :D **


	3. Chapter 3

I was finally able to get Rose to stop crying by the time SHIELD had ransacked the house. She was still blubbering a bit now, but and I couldn't help but notice how cold her little body had gotten under the terrycloth onezy. She looked around the room with wide eyes, taking in everything all at once.

I hoped Loki had gotten out okay. Knowing him he would have.

I looked back to Fury. "Director Fury," I said by way of greeting.

"We're here for your husband," he said, clasping his hands behind his back. "As you know, or as we told you and you didn't listen, he was responsible for a rather nasty break in last night. We need to bring him in for questioning. Where did he go?"

I shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine, Fury. He's not here. That's all I know." I shifted Rose from my left hip to my right as I spoke. I kept my face as smooth as glass.

Fury still looked pretty pissed, but I soon learned none of that was directed at me. If Loki had been here on the other hand, let's just say it wouldn't have been pretty. He also didn't seem too suspicious about my telling Loki to escape.

Two men were helping the agent I had knocked down back down the hall to sit down at the dining room table. I realized how short the masked man was… and how skinny…

As the figure made it to the chair, it took its helmet off and dark curls surfaced. It was a woman I had never seen before and she was shooting me a rather nasty look. I couldn't blame her, though. I wouldn't exactly want to get shot with electricity either…

Fury saw me looking at the woman. "Parker, this is agent Natasha Romanoff. She's been away for the last two years out in Minnesota." He stopped talking as a man walked up to him and showed him some piece of clothing from the bedroom, probably something that could be 'evidence' against Loki.

I nodded curtly at the woman. She couldn't have been much older than I was. Rose latched onto my hair and I had to work to pry her little fingers from the strand. She was warm now that she had calmed down again.

"We are going to have to ask you to come back to work, Parker," Fury said quickly as he shooed the other agent away. "If Loki is working against SHIELD again, we need all Avengers at the ready."

I looked at him in utter disbelief. Couldn't he see the baby in my arms? "Fury, I have a child now. If what you say is true, the child of a traitor. And I am his wife. How on earth can you expect me to-"

"You either come back to work with us or we arrest you on site for insubordination and quite possibly treason."

~Loki~

Loki landed in the middle of New York City. As he materialized back into solid form, a yellow taxi blurred past him, nearly hitting him. He was standing in the middle of the road. He ignored several dirty looks that were thrown his way as he stepped back onto the curb.

What in hell had gone on back there? Hadn't he had his name cleared long ago after helping with Oberon's defeat? And why, after all this time, would SHIELD suddenly decide to arrest him again?

He shook his head as each possible answer he came up to one question brought about ten more questions. He needed time to think. That was certain.

His stomach growled. And food. Food would be good too.

He spotted a diner down the street and across the block. He shrugged. It wasn't Veronica's cooking, but it would have to do. He took off down the street, stopping to let a few cars pass before crossing the intersection.

As he entered the restaurant, he noticed that very few people were in it. the clock on the wall read three p.m. Loki sighed as he sat down.

"Can I take your order?" The waitress asked, chewing on a piece of gum and smacking her bright red lips. She looked like she was in her fifties, and the bright red lipstick she wore had run into the creases that had formed around her mouth with age. Loki tried, and failed, to conceal the look of disgust on his face.

He ordered and the waitress walked off, scribbling something on her notepad.

He let out another sigh. He would need money…

He looked around, from left to right. No one was paying him any attention. An old man sat in the corner across from Loki playing chess with another man and the two seemed to be completely engrossed in the game. Loki looked over his shoulder to see the only other person in the room getting his coat to walk out the door.

He turned back to his table, opening his hand and creating midgardian paper money.

"Interesting talent you have there, Sir," the old man who was playing chess said from across the room. His voice was old, but it possessed a fluidity and charisma that came with the ability to speak multiple languages.

Loki looked up from his place, startled. How could he have been so careless? The man was looking at the board still.

The man across the room made his next move slowly, deliberately before he got up to walk across the room to Loki's table. The other man trailed behind him.

"May I sit?" the old man asked quietly. his blue eyes twinkled reassuringly, but Loki just looked at him. If anyone could spot mischief, Loki sure could, and this man was not up to any good. At all.

"No, I am sorry," Loki said swiftly as he stuffed the money into his pocket. "I prefer to be alone. I do not take kindly to people I do not know."

The old man sighed. "What a coincidence," he said as he slipped into the booth. "Because I do not either, Mr. Laufeyson."

Loki looked slightly taken aback. How did this mortal know him?

"Yes. I make a point of knowing all who play in this game," the old man said. His eyes weren't twinkling anymore. "I also happen to know that you are wanted by SHIELD for a robbery and murder."

That had been the last thing Loki had heard of Veronica's thoughts before he had vaporized.

The old man was obviously enjoying Loki's confusion. A little too much. The other man that had been sitting with him had taken a place behind the old man's seat. For the slightest instant, Loki could have sworn he saw yellow irises peering out from the standing man's eyes. He shook it off as he turned back to the older man sitting before him.

"What do you want?" Loki asked.

The old man sat back, allowing the waitress to come and drop a cup of coffee in front of Loki. As the waitress retreated, the man continued. "Assistance, if you please, Mr. Laufeyson. I am… shall we say, not like most mortals. I possess certain-eh- qualities that make me a very helpful ally." The old man steepled his fingers, peering over the tops of them. "Or dangerous opponent."

Loki had heard all of this before. In fact, he had even heard those words come from his own mouth. When the man saw that what he had said did not affect the god of mischief, he continued.

"How is your family?" the old man said suddenly, taking a finger and swirling it through a small pile of spilled salt at the center of the table. "More importantly, your daughter. I have heard things…"

Loki sat upright. How dare this man attempt to threaten his family. "What-"

The old man held up a hand to stop Loki from talking. "When one has inside sources at SHIELD, he tends to learn many important things, Mr. Laufeyson. I happen to know many things concerning your daughter. Things I would be willing to share for the right price."

Loki glared at the old man. He summoned up as much magic as he could without closing his eyes, and aimed it right for the man's heart.

But somehow the fork by his left hand rose up by itself, breaking his concentration, and came down onto the back of his hand. Loki let out a gasp of pain. How on earth? By Odin's beard he had had just about enough of this bastard.

He brought his hand back under the table when he realized that barely any blood had been drawn.

"Mr. Laufeyson, I would appreciate it if you regard me with a bit more respect than that. Especially given the opportunity I am offering. I happen to know that you have… shall we say, failed in your attempt to overrun the world and cleanse it of weakness." Loki seethed at the man's words. "This world," the man's voice had dropped lower as a couple walked through the doors of the diner. "Is no place for the weak, Mr. Laufeyson. The weak, in their fear of the unknown, have suppressed the strong, the different. Your daughter, for example, would be a prime target …"

The old man pulled out a calling card from his wallet and scooted it across the table at Loki. "Call me if you decide you wish to know more about my offer, Mr. Laufeyson. I assure you. Your daughter will be no different than the rest of us when push comes to shove. SHIELD fears the strong. Why do you think they created their band of heroes? To keep them under their control and supervision. All the governments of the world fear the strong. The weak hold the power, and worry constantly about suppressing us."

Loki was speechless. For once in his life, his silver tongue had turned to lead.

The old man got up from his seat. "It was a pleasure, Mr. Laufeyson. I expect to hear from you soon." He smiled once, something that made Loki uncomfortable, before he grabbed his hat and exited the diner, leaving a few dollars on the table in his wake. Loki shoved the calling card into his pocket without reading what it said. He was too tense to worry about anything at the moment.

He barely touched his food and ended up paying for an uneaten meal. He suddenly was not hungry anymore.

As he walked out into the fresh air, he stopped to pull the card from his pocket.

There was an address on it along with a single word. It sounded like a name, but Loki was unfamiliar with it.

_Magneto_

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Ok! Now we are getting somewhere, yes? :D <strong>

**And I finally saw Iron Man 2 so I figured it was about time to add Black Widow into this little party! I didn't much care for her character in the movie, but hey, she can totally kick ass! **

**Thank you everyone for the wonderful reviews! Please know that they mean a lot to me!**

**Until next chapter,**

**~Sirius**


	4. Chapter 4

~Veronica~

I sucked in a breath of irritation as the airplane we were in hit a bout of turbulence. To my left, Tony Stark sat snoring in his seat while a rather disgusted-looking Natasha looked on. Rose was asleep in her carrier… for now.

Here I was, once again, being torn between my heart and my head. My head told me to go with Fury. To make sure my daughter would be safe. My heart told me to defend Loki at all costs.

I leaned my head against the back of the seat, trying to block out the images I had seen on the television. Fury had shown me the footage of Loki the minute I had boarded in an attempt to prove Loki's guilt. Sure enough, Loki Laufeyson had been in SHIELD headquarters. The only thing that made me doubt the footage was the way Loki had been moving. Something about the hesitation of his footing before he stepped reminded me of a cat. Loki had never reminded me of a cat, even before I knew him.

Tony had finally cooled down by now and the minute we had boarded the plane, he had sunk into the first seat he saw and fallen asleep. Natasha, on the other hand, was still glaring daggers at me.

I let out a sigh as I realized I had been holding my breath. Why couldn't I have a normal life?

When the plane landed, I picked Rose's carrier up and made to walk out the door. Once we were out of the plane, Fury escorted us to a black hummer parked farther down the air strip. I got in the back seat to find Phil Coulson sitting in the driver's seat. He looked at the baby like she had three heads, purple skin, and a nose ring.

"You don't like kids, Phil?" Tony asked jokingly as he slid in next to me.

"Not after dealing with you, Stark," he said in that monotonous tone. I thought I heard him mutter something about "not another one," but I wasn't positive.

I strapped the carrier into the seat between Tony and me. Rose was still asleep.

"Where are we headed exactly?" I asked Fury.

"Back to Headquarters. We need to reassemble and track Loki."

My nostrils flared involuntarily, but I held my tongue. The footage didn't lie… anger started to boil up inside me. How could Loki do this? After all we had been through together, why had he decided to just waltz in and take Oberon's egg? I wondered if he had ever changed at all. If he really had been lying to me all this time. Had he just been biding his time after Oberon had fallen? Was that why he had wanted to see the Avengers succeed in battle against the sorcerer? So that he could swoop in and attain power once again?

It was dark out now. It had taken several hours to fly back up north. The city lights seemed too harsh after I had spent so long at the beach. It hit me that I wouldn't be able to see the stars tonight…

When we got back to headquarters, I was ordered to pass Rose off to someone else. Somehow, Fury had come up with a nanny of sorts… by the name of Phil Coulson. The little man seemed rather uncomfortable with the baby, but I knew at least she would be protected. That man was vicious with a taser. Almost as dangerous as Darcy. If you don't believe me, just ask Tony. He knew from personal experience…

As I walked away from the baby, I heard her let out a little wail… then break into full-blown balling. When I turned around, I saw her holding her arms out to me, tears running down her cheeks. Her bright blue eyes were huge as tears spilled over them.

Coulson spun her little body around to face him, still holding her at arm's length. Her little legs kicked angrily but stopped as soon as he started speaking. He mumbled something that must have worked because the next thing I knew she was just fine and had latched onto his tie, pressing her snotty nose into it as she brought it to her little mouth to gnaw on it. Oh, the joys of a teething baby. I heard him let out an irritated sigh, but he didn't do anything else.

I turned back on course, convinced that she was fine and walked down to the elevator. I noticed that the front desk looked like it had been utterly destroyed. When Tony saw me looking he piped up.

"Your husband threw me into that," he whispered in my ear. "See right there?" he asked as he pointed to a particularly nasty looking dent in the wood. "That's where they told me I hit my head. Hurt like hell too, but no worries, I'm fine."

I rolled my eyes. I was still not in the mood to think about Loki's apparent break-in, but it looked like I was going to have to deal with it sooner than later.

We were headed towards the meeting room now, but stopped in the break room for Stark to get a cup of coffee. I wasn't prepared for the bombardment that came when the doors opened.

"Holy Shit, Veronica!" I heard Hawkeye say as he came into view. "Where's the baby? You didn't _lose_ her did you?" he said as he looked around frantically. He and the others had been by several times to visit the baby in the past few months, but he had gotten particularly attached to her.

I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. "No, Clint," I said as I gave him a hug. "Supernanny's watching her."

"Good ole Coulson," he said. "How you holding up?" he said lower so Stark and Natasha couldn't hear from across the room.

"I'm holding," I said by way of response. Awkward silence ensued.

"Veronica?" I heard a feminine voice say from behind me.

I turned around to see a short woman, with long wavy brown hair and brown eyes, walking swiftly up to me, a smile plastered on her face.

I recognized Jane Foster before another thought could pop into my head.

~Loki~

Loki sat in the middle of Central Park. He liked this place. It was quiet, and it gave him a place to think. He remembered how he had met Veronica for the first time here… and how she had knocked him down without really trying. God, he missed her right now, as well as little Rose.

Rose had just started showing signs of Johtun powers and features, something he had always worried about. How long would it be until she started showing all of the signs of a frost giant? Would she be like him? Would the characteristics become permanent? How could she lead a normal life on Midgard if she had blue skin and red eyes?

_She could not._

He pulled Magneto's card from his pocket and reread it by the light of the street light that hung over his head.

Now that SHIELD had Veronica back, there was really no where he could go safely. He was certain a search party had been released. _Stupid Mortals. You will never find me._ Loki let a smirk cross his lips to think of SHIELD agents scouring the globe for him. Well, he had always liked attention…

With a huff, he got up from his seat on the park bench and started walking. If that old man- Magneto- believed in half of the things he had told Loki, he and Loki were startlingly similar as far as their opinions of the human race. But what had made that man so special? That he considered himself to be a separate category from the human race? Loki had not sensed any magic about Magneto, that he was certain.

So Loki was going to find out. He closed his hand around the calling card, stuffed it into the pocket of his jeans, and disappeared in a matter of seconds, a cloud of green dust the only indication he had been there in the first place.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And that's another chap, guys! :D Hopefully it was up to par? Let me know! Reviews are always appreciated... and treasured! Any help, comments, or praise is very much appreciated! I am also taking suggestions for plot line... have anything you want to see? such as a favorite x-men? Chances are, they are coming up in the next chapters, but let me know anyway! <strong>

**Til next update!**

**~Sirius **


	5. Chapter 5

~Veronica~

"Jane!" I exclaimed as she walked up to Hawkeye and me.

She gave me a hug and I had to bend down to return it. "How have you been?" she asked me. "I haven't heard from you in over a year! Since when do you work here?"

I smiled sheepishly. "Well. Since last year, actually."

"Oh my god," she said quietly. "And you didn't tell me?"

I shrugged by way of apology. "How did you get here?"

Her smile grew even wider. "Well, I got a call last month about some weird looking things going on in the upper atmosphere. Something about solar winds. But it turned out to be an abnormal sun flare. No biggie. I was actually scheduled to leave that same day, but Fury offered me a job… and, well, I took it! But I didn't ever hear anything about you being here."

I smiled. "yeah, I'm part of the Avenger initiative."

She took a step back. "Woah. So you're-" She crossed her arms and brought a hand up to point from me to Hawkeye to Stark. She was asking about if I was a superhero.

I scratched my nose awkwardly, hiding my eyes. "Yeah," I said as I brought my hand back down.

"-and these guys are-"

"Part of the team I'm a member of. I control electricity."

"But how did you get like this?" Jane said. She was still smiling, but she was obviously confused… and Jane did not like to be left out of the loop when it came to knowledge.

"Well," I said. This was the awkward part. I had never called her to tell her when Thor had come back to earth. I had had problems of my own to worry about. "You know Thor's back," I said.

She nodded, her face flushing a bit. So they had gotten back together. That made my situation a bit brighter. If only just a little bit.

"Well…" I launched into my story of how I had gotten my powers. She took it all in. I cringed when I got to the part about Loki. I had never been one to tell others about my relationships even if they were normal ones…

"You mean you're married to that guy that broke in last night? Thor's brother?"

I pressed my lips together in a small smile. She grabbed my left hand. "Wow. That's- that's a nice rock."

I smiled. "Yeah… there's something else too."

She raised her thin eyebrows. "Yeah?"

At that moment, Agent Coulson came through the break room doors, Rose screaming her head off.

"Parker, so help me-"Coulson was cut off by another ear-piercing shriek from Rose's mouth.

I went over to the little girl and grabbed her cold body, taking her from the agent's arms. "Thanks Coulson, I've got her for now." I turned back to Jane. "I have a kid. Meet Rose."

Jane tilted her head to the side and wiped the tears from under Rose's eyes. "She looks like you," was all Jane said.

I smiled again, then my pager went off, signifying the meeting was about to start.

-Loki-

Loki twiddled his thumbs in his chair while he waited for Magneto's receptionist to come back from her boss's office. He had been quite taken aback by the… woman? Lizard? He was not even sure what to call her. Her entire body had been blue and she had not had a stitch of clothing on her body. That had been enough make him question just what he was getting himself into.

"Mr. Laufeyson?" the woman's yellow irises glinted as she came back through the door. "He will see you now."

Loki smirked, not bothering to thank the mutant, before he brushed past her and into the office space.

The first thing that struck Loki was the fact that everything was made of metal. On the desk, several small metal balls were suspended in a row in midair, knocking back and forth. As one end was hit, the ball opposite would swing out.

Magneto was looking out the huge glass window that ran the length of the wall behind the desk, hands clasped behind his back. "I knew you would come, Mr. Laufeyson, but I must admit that I had not expected you to come so quickly." Magneto turned around to face Loki, eyes twinkling in an unnerving way. "Oh. Where are my manners? Do be seated."

He indicated to a metal chair far across the room. Before Loki could turn around and summon the chair, Magneto had swooped his hand out and towards the desk. The metal chair came flying across the room, landing in front of the desk.

Loki regarded it coolly before sitting down. He remained tense, although he was starting to like this mortal.

"As I said, Mr. Laufeyson, I am not like other humans. I am a mutant. The future of human existence, evolution at its best."

Loki tilted his head back slightly, exuding the sense of arrogance he was so well known for. "And what does that have to do with me or my family?" he said curtly.

"I shall get to it eventually, Mr. Laufeyson. All in good time… all in good time." Magneto sat down at the desk across from Loki. "I was born into a Jewish family at the height of the National Socialist reign. At a very young age, I developed the skill to control metal… with my mind. So. When Adolf Hitler- I am sure you are familiar with him- issued the order for concentration camps to be constructed and my family was arrested, my powers became an object of interest for the Nazi government. The master race was what they wanted." Magneto pulled his sleeve up to reveal a line of small black numbers tattooed onto his skin. "A master race was what they were going to have." Magneto stood up again to pour a glass of brandy from a metal canter for Loki and himself. "Or so they thought."

Loki took the glass as Magneto offered it to him, sipping it delicately and swirling the liquid around in the cup. "Long story short," Magneto continued. "They killed my family, I killed those responsible, and became the man I am today."

"And what kind of man is that?" Loki said, emphasizing each word subtly. He leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, keeping eye contact with the old man.

Magneto smiled. "One with a vision, Mr. Laufeyson. One I am quite certain I share with you."

"Go on," Loki said as he straightened up in his seat and drained the cup of alcohol.

"Mutants were not meant to live in the shadows. We- yourself included- are meant to rule. We are the chosen, the elite. You may not be a mutant, Mr. Laufeyson, but I believe you and I both realize that this world is in need of a dire wake-up call. One we can both give it. I offer you an army of not just mercenaries, but of some of the most gifted mutants in the world. All in exchange for your support."

Loki pursed his lips, considering. "What of my family? You mentioned my daughter at our last meeting. What does SHIELD know that I do not? And how would you know anything about her?"

Magneto's eyes crinkled as he grinned. "Ahh. That's right. Mystique?"

The man that Loki had seen in the diner earlier that day came through the door and perched behind Magneto. "Be a dear and show Mr. Laufeyson your powers."

The man nodded, and looked at Loki as yellow irises began to form in the man's brown ones.

The next thing Loki knew he was looking at the same blue woman that had shown him into Magneto's office. With crimson hair slicked back and yellow irises, she looked every bit the part of lizard lady.

"Mystique here is quite useful when it comes to penetrating my enemies' defenses. She is a credit to her species."

The blue woman smirked as she sat down at a table and chairs by the window. She was still stark naked.

"Anyways," Magneto continued. " While roaming the medical floor of SHIELD one evening she discovered something rather odd. A child, a little girl to be precise, had just been born to a mutant with the ability to control electricity. With careful observation, it was discovered that you, Mr. Laufeyson, were the father of said child."

Loki looked at Magneto, still uncertain where this was headed.

"Blood work was ordered and performed without telling you or your wife and sent back to SHIELD for diagnostics." Magneto pulled out a file folder. "Here is a copy for you to read. Quite an interesting diagnosis was made. Your child, Mr. Laufeyson, will be perhaps the most powerful mutant this world has ever seen. As I said. SHIELD fears power. My, my, my, what is to become of those that possess great power when those who fear it are willing to do so much suppress it? Especially when a baby with so much power is so near to them, helpless apart from a powerful mother and father. Even mutants can be harmed by bullets, Mr. Laufeyson."

Loki was putting the pieces of the puzzle together in his mind now. It was all starting to make sense…

And the more he figured out, the more angry he was becoming.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: yup. That's that, guys! I'm still hoping it was good. I would have had it up last night, but Supernatural came on and that was the end of that XD. And today I'm a little brain dead from sitting in the movie theater for two hours watching the Hunger Games. I must say the best part of the entire experience was the Avengers Trailer beforehand… <strong>

**Please Review! **

**~Sirius **


	6. Chapter 6

~Veronica~

After I had dropped Rose back off with Coulson and said goodbye to Jane, I walked down to the meeting room with Tony, Hawkeye, and Natasha.

Thor and Steve were already there, and I couldn't help but notice how tired Thor looked. I waved at them as I took my seat at the long table that stretched down the center of the room.

Fury came in a few minutes later. "Good Afternoon, Avengers," he said. His deep voice bounced off the walls. "As you are all aware we had a breach in security last night. A very severe breach in security. The last of Oberon's hybrid eggs was stolen by none other than Hostile 23, Loki Laufeyson."

I propped my elbows on the table, trying to take in what Fury was saying. My thoughts kept going back Loki. Where was he now? I hadn't made contact with him since SHIELD had taken over the house. Now that I thought about it I wasn't sure how to… he didn't have a cell phone. Maybe it was for the best…

"Now. We aren't sure what the egg's intended use is, but whatever it is it isn't good." Fury brought up a projector and screen. A few pictures of the dead hybrids Steve and I had killed a year ago popped up, fading slowly to different autopsy pictures that SHIELD agents had performed. "We know that these guys aren't any normal breed. They're a mutation- or hybrid, if you will- of the hell hounds that Oberon had and some of Oberon's own DNA."

I hadn't heard that before. The meeting continued into the next hour. Fury talked about different plans of action he thought would help track Loki.

By the time the meeting was over, I was pretty tired. I didn't even bother hanging around for supper, and walked straight up to my old bedroom. Sure enough, everything was as it had been before I left. Blue carpet, blue walls, blue bed coverings.

In the corner, I noticed a crib had been set up. How convenient. At least SHIELD was making sure my baby was being taken care of…

I slung my bag down on the bed and went to find Rose. Coulson had her in the common room, bouncing her up and down on his knee. She was bringing her hands together as if she were trying to clap.

"Ah. Parker. You're back." Coulson stood up and passed the baby off to me.

"Yeah. Thanks for keeping an eye on her. I can handle her for the rest of the night."

He nodded as I lifted her up to prop her on my right hip… and was surprised to feel how solid she was. Had she been this heavy that morning? I chalked it up to simply being away from her for a fixed period of time longer than an hour and I turned back to go to my bedroom.

By the time I was able to put her down for the night, she fell fast asleep. That was odd too.

I shrugged. It had been a long day. Maybe she just wanted her rest. I know I did. I looked out the wall-like windows that made up the two outer walls of my room. The sky-line of the city painted a dark contrast against the setting sun.

I stifled a yawn as I undressed and crawled under the cool sheets. I cringed as I realized that they reminded me of… him. Maybe he hadn't broken in… maybe someone else had done it...

_In my dream, I was in a brightly lit hallway, lined with fluorescent lights. I was walking toward a safe that was embedded into the white sheetrock. Closer…closer…closer…_

_ A security guard lay dead on the floor and I shuddered as I imagined the force that must have been behind the blade that had entered his skull._

_ The vault door was open, but I didn't see anything in it but one crate and a lone figure. Loki. My Loki stood over the box, his face cast in a red glow that was coming from the crate. _

_ When he looked up to smile at me, yellow irises took the place of his green ones. _

I woke up in a cold sweat. I hadn't had a dream like that since Oberon had been trying to take over. Rose was still sound asleep, snoring lightly. I was completely and utterly alone in the room. I missed Loki's presence next to me and I wondered just what he was doing…

-Loki-

Loki sat up straighter as Magneto went over Rose's blood work with him. He was completely infuriated that SHIELD had gone behind Veronica's back to take a sample of the baby's blood for diagnostics. Why had he not been informed? Was it not his daughter as well as hers? Did she know about the tests?

"So. As you can see, Mr. Laufeyson, your daughter will become very powerful. I ask you to join our mission. Help the Brotherhood- as we call ourselves- make the world a safer place for a mutant such as your child. In return for your help, you will be granted a full share of leadership of this new world. Consider the offer if you please, sir. We will give you twenty four hours to respond. Seeing as you have nowhere else to go, and SHIELD is out for your head, I would urge you to strongly consider taking us up on the offer."

Loki smirked, scratching a spot on his chin as he stood up. "I thank you for your time, Magneto."

"Erik," the old man said. "Call me Erik." The two shook hands.

Loki nodded. "Right then. I will be in touch very soon."

And then he was gone in a puff of green smoke.

Erik sat back down in his seat as Mystique walked up to sit across from him where Loki had been. She propped her long blue legs up on the desk. Erik brought his hands together as if her were going to pray, looking over the tops of his fingers.

"Everything is going according to plan, my dear." Erik's tone was no longer grandfatherly or reassuring. It was lethal now as his words flowed quickly and quietly. "It is time for phase two."

Mystique's blue lips broke into a smile as her blue skin shifted to a normal skin tone and her bright red hair grew and turned a light brown.

**AN: Short? Yes. Suspenseful? Hopefully! :D Who can guess who Mystique is going to be next chapter? ;) **

**On a different note, I have opened up an account at Deviantart! I uploaded my first picture today. It's a portrait of Veronica if anyone is interested! I, for one, am very excited about it. you can find the link on my profile.**

** Please Review, guys! I feel kind of lost seeing as there have only been a few reviews this past weekend... I know this sounds insecure, but... were the last few chapters bad? Thanks to everyone that has been reviewing! Know that i appreciate them whole-heartedly :D **

**Til next update,**

**~Sirius **


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: So I am trying this new thing where I start each chapter with the name and lyrics (If there are any) of a song or quote that inspired me while writing. Maybe I am weird, but music plays a big part in my writing (and my life as a whole). This is just a side note to let you all know. :D **

**P.s. Don't own Marvel or Carter Mcntyre**

* * *

><p>"<em>I'm tired of being what you want me to be. <em>

_Feeling so faithless, lost under the surface"_

_~Numb by Linkin Park_

* * *

><p>~Veronica~<p>

After a restless night, the pager on my bedside table was the last thing I wanted to hear from at six in the morning. I reached over groggily to turn the infernal thing off, hoping it hadn't woken up Rose.

I tiptoed over to her crib to make sure she wasn't awake and let out a sigh of relief. Odd. She was still asleep. She had always been a light sleeper… A closer look had me notice a soft blue light glowing from her right palm. That was the hand her mark was on… Dear god, I hoped everything would be okay with her. I hadn't told Loki my thoughts about her condition. I hadn't had the chance. But all of the little things were starting to come together.

Light blue skin in Loki's presence, turning ocean water to ice, cooler skin during strong emotions, the birthmark; it was all coming together. But I couldn't think about it just now. It wouldn't do me any good emotionally or make me a helpful member to SHIELD.

With this in mind, I turned away from my sleeping daughter and looked back at the pager. I opened the message up.

_Avengers meeting in half an hour. _

_Urgent. _

I turned the thing off and got ready. My old uniform was still in the closet and, despite the extra pounds I had picked up while carrying Rose and practically doing nothing for six months, it still fit. I looked at myself in the mirror. It was good to be back. I couldn't deny it. But Loki's absence made it hard.

"Rosie," I cooed down at the sleeping child as I lifted her gently from the crib. I hated to wake her, but I couldn't just leave her here. Once again, she felt more solid than usual. I paged Coulson very quickly, probably making dire grammar errors in the process.

I was able to transfer her without waking her to my shoulder and left the bedroom.

ooOOoo

A half hour of Coulson hunting later (that man was NOT easy to find when he didn't want to be found) and I was sitting in the meeting room. Steve was sitting up straighter than usual (if that was even possible) at the head of the rounded table along with Thor and Natasha. To my right, Tony was drooling into a cup of coffee, clearly not awake yet. Barton was tapping a small arrow on the table from his quiver.

Tap. Tap tap tap. Tap. T-

I slammed my hand down on the arrow as it hit again. "Do you mind?" I said quickly. Barton raised his eyebrows at me before stowing the arrow away.

I looked further down the table to Jane who was typing madly into a graphing calculator. I couldn't help but notice how odd it was for Jane to even _have _a calculator… she had always been the human calculator back in New Mexico.

My attention was soon turned away from Jane as Fury came striding through the sliding doors. "Good Morning, Avengers, Miss Foster. I suppose you are all wondering why we have called you out of bed at this hour. There has been a development. It appears that Loki Laufeyson was spotted in this very city sometime last night. Sources did not give an accurate time. Ladies, gentlemen, this means we know his approximate whereabouts. "

I heard Tony let out an exasperated sigh. "So you mean you got us out of bed an hour before we needed to be to tell us you had an 'idea' of where the bad guy is?" Tony didn't try to suppress a scowl.

Fury nodded. "Well, Stark. It's what we pay you to do, is it not? Miss Foster even came in on her day off to help and her team is working to find the coordinates that Loki has touched down at in the city. We are hoping to map out where he has been and predict his next move."

Jane didn't look up, but kept plowing through her work.

"Until then, we will need all Avengers out in the field. If need be, interference will need to be run should Loki attack while we are still blind."

I still felt uneasy, but I had to agree with Fury. If Loki did attack it would be best for us to be prepared. I had gotten over the fact that the father of my child was the enemy last night. Things were the way they were… no matter how painful. No use in feeling sorry for myself. There was no way I could afford to have mixed emotions, no matter how much my heart protested.

I wasn't going to make the same mistake I had two years ago.

"Parker, Romanoff, you will be heading out with SHIELD agent Carter Mcntyre." Fury's voice brought me back to reality. I noticed the neon-green eyed girl standing next to him slide mirrored aviators down her nose and wave at me. She ran a hand through short, curly brown hair as she pushed the glasses back up. "Rogers, Stark, and Barton. You all will be going to the Southside. As for Thor, myself, and a few other agents, we will be scouting the perimeter of the city. As for you, Dr. Banner-" Fury stopped talking when he saw that Banner wasn't paying him a lick of attention. Barton nudged Bruce in the side and the doctor snapped out of the staring fit he had entered into when Carter had walked into the room.

"Sorry," he mumbled awkwardly.

"Banner. You will be staying back here, monitoring the computers and assisting Miss foster when necessary." Bruce nodded.

Jane kept typing at that damn calculator.

The meeting was dismissed and I stood up quickly with Natasha and Carter. I remembered Carter from last year. I was actually surprised that she had not been instated as a full-time avenger when I had quit.

"Hi-ya," she said. I could see my reflection in her reflective sunglasses… along with everyone else in the room. Jane had gotten up now and was walking towards the door. When Bruce got up a bit too quickly and his chair fell down in Jane's path, he bumped into her.

"S-sorry, Jane," he stammered. His face had gone beet-red, but I didn't notice. I was far too preoccupied with the yellow irises that had flashed in Jane's eyes when he had bumped her_._

_Just like Loki's had in my dream._

I had caught the whole scenario in the reflection of Carter's sunglasses as the young woman launched into her story about what she had been doing for the past year. I wasn't positive of what I had seen. Not positive enough to bring it up in front of the group. I mean, what was I going to say? That Jane had turned into a demon of sorts? Something told me that wouldn't fly with the Avengers and I also didn't want to risk humiliating my oldest friend here.

And I had seen it all in the warped reflection of the sunglasses, for Christ's sake. Surely light was going to be reflected strangely from time to time.

"Can you believe that?" Carter finished as she crossed her arms over her chest. "They wouldn't take me on the team after all I did against Orion last year."

"It was Oberon," I said quietly.

Carter shrugged. "Orion, Oberon, what's the difference? All I know is that I'm stuck working under Coulson day in day out. I swear if I get written up for not carrying a taser one more time…"

-Loki-

Loki had known he would accept Magneto's offer before he even left the old man's office. Here was his chance to make sure that his daughter would be able to live safely… and up to her full potential if what Magneto had shown him was true.

But he couldn't enter into war against SHIELD while Veronica and Rose were still there. He needed them to be safely behind the lines of Magneto's army, not on the receiving end of the attack.

Loki appeared back in front of the diner he had come to last night. He needed to find Veronica. He closed his eyes and focused on her whereabouts, honing in on any static energy that represented her power aura so well.

~Veronica~

New York City was busy as ever. If I hadn't known about the battle that had taken place here a year ago, I would never have thought it had once been the habitat of Hell hounds or Oberon.

Carter had taken to keeping an eye out in the streets while Natasha had seemingly disappeared the moment we were free of SHIELD. I got the feeling she liked to do her own thing. As for myself, I kept my ears pricked for a voice, a cool breeze, anything that would alert me to his presence.

We stopped briefly to grab lunch. It was a quaint little café that didn't quite fit in with the mission that was at hand. I felt like we were out shopping for the day rather than hunting gods.

I finished first, telling Natasha (who had shown up when the food had come) and Carter that I would be back. I excused myself and got up to find the ladies room.

I swung the wooden door open and walked over to the sink. I splashed a bit of cool water on my face, trying to calm my nerves.

I brought a dry towel up to my face… and nearly jumped to see Loki Laufeyson's reflection smirking back at me in the mirror.

* * *

><p><strong>A.N. Sorry for the wait guys. Work and school decided to take over my life yet again. But, the good news is that Spring Break is coming up… and there will be plenty of time for me to write bunches of new chapters! As long as that's okay with yall of course… ;) <strong>

**Also, There are a few new drawings up on Deviantart. One is a design sketch of Veronica's uniform and I also posted Hel from the last two stories. Check em out if you are interested :D **

**Thanks for all the magnificent reviews! Please keep it up as I feel better about my writing when I know what readers are thinking… **

**And a little preview into next chapter… expect X-men. Lots of X-men hehe**

**~Sirius **


	8. Chapter 8

"_If you had one shot, or one opportunity, to seize everything you ever wanted would you capture it? Or just let it slip away?"_

_~Lose Yourself _

_by Eminem_

* * *

><p>-Loki-<p>

Loki smiled at the startled look on his wife's face. He knew why she was out and about. She was looking for him. To take him into SHIELD for questioning. He had heard it all in her thoughts as her mind had raced from the panic attack she had been entering.

Good. She needed to be nervous.

"Hello, Love," he said quietly as she spun around to face him. Her long hair fell into her face and she pushed it back quickly to keep eye contact with him. "And how are you enjoying your little… outing?"

He walked up to her, forcing her against the counter of the restroom. She was trapped. He trailed a cold hand over her collar bone and brushed her hair behind her shoulder, smirking when her pale skin flushed at his touch.

_She had always been his._

As his cold breath trailed over her, she suppressed a shiver.

But it wasn't fear.

It was desire.

That made him happy too. She was still attracted to him… even if she thought he was a criminal…

"Loki, I-"

He brought a single finger to her mouth, and she stopped talking. "It is my turn to be heard, my dear," he whispered. He brought his hand down and took a step away from her. "The baby? How is Rose?"

She crossed her arms. "She is fine, Loki."

"Where is she?"

Veronica looked at him, obviously deciding what to say. Did she know about the tests? Loki was still unsure…

"She is safe," Veronica replied. "That's all you need to know right now."

Loki felt anger surge up inside him. "You think she is safe? Darling, she is with the very organization that wants to monitor her like a lab rat."

His wife bit her lip, looking at a point behind him. She was suppressing tears. "Did you break into SHIELD?" she asked, changing the subject. "A few days ago, when Fury came to arrest you, he showed me a tape with your face blatantly stamped all over it. You were in SHIELD headquarters, Loki."

In a burst of realization, Loki realized what had been done. That blue woman, Mystique, the shape shifter, had disguised herself as him to break in… but what for? Did Magneto have another plan that he had kept from Loki?

Loki would make a point of discussing that with his partner at their next meeting.

"All I can say, Love, is that it was not me."

"Then who?" she asked. Her voice was bordering on hysterical. "Who could possibly have pulled something like that off? It wasn't… him… Oberon? Was it?" She wiped her nose with the back of her hand and tears began to stream down her cheeks.

But Loki would not tell her who it was. He could not afford to have a valuable member of the brotherhood compromised. "No. it was not Oberon." He brought a slender hand up to wipe the tears away. He had not seen her cry since she had thought he was dying after battling Oberon. "Now, I need you to tell me where Rose is. Veronica, Love, don't trust SHIELD, I beg of you."

Her brow crinkled in confusion, her clear blue eyes flashing dangerously. "They… they're the good guys, Loki. I work for them because-"

"Not this time. Rose… Rose will not be like other children. You know that. Well, guess what. SHIELD knew before you or I did through a series of blood tests taken at the time of Rose's birth."

Veronica's confusion deepened. This was good too.

"No, we didn't authorize that. You know how meticulous SHIELD is about clearance and stuff like that. Fury wouldn't dare."

Loki smirked again. "Even the heroes have a dark side, Love." Veronica edged away from him, more towards the door. "I have been offered an opportunity for Rose to have a safe childhood. I am taking it. I can only hope that you will join me, Darling." At the last word he grabbed Veronica by the arm and pulled her roughly to him. Their chests crushed together and he heard her let out a little gasp. He enjoyed this too much…

"Think about it, Love. Please. I do not want you near SHIELD. I have friends elsewhere that will help us." He planted a small kiss on her lips. She stiffened, but gave in in a matter of seconds. "I love you," he whispered after she had returned it. "But I will protect my family. Whatever the cost."

"So will I," she replied, matching his deadly whisper. He smiled against her lips as he kissed her once more, and then he was gone.

* * *

><p>~Veronica~<p>

I fell backwards, propping myself up on the counter after Loki had disappeared. Had SHIELD really gone to the lengths he had claimed them to? All to get information on a child I would gladly have given if they had asked?

I wiped away my tears and tried to make myself look presentable. One of the many downs of having fair skin was that when I got upset it turned a blotchy red and my eyes were puffy for several hours.

I reemerged a few minutes later to sit down at the table with Carter and Natasha.

"What. Did you fall in or something?" Carter asked laughingly as she speared a piece of cake.

I smiled at her, hoping that the redness of my face would be ignored. Natasha kept looking at me like she knew something was wrong, but she kept her mouth shut. Come to think of it, I couldn't remember when I had actually heard her say more than a few sentences.

ooOOoo

It was three o'clock in the afternoon now, and we were making our way back to Avenger Tower. I hadn't mentioned Loki's appearance, something I realized was an incredibly bad habit of mine.

I stopped walking when I saw a familiar short figure, with long, wavy brown hair walking out of a small grocery store in a sweat suit. _Jane._

Wasn't Jane supposed to be back at Avenger Tower?

She waved at the three of us when she saw us. "Hey, Guys! What's up?" she shifted the brown paper bag she was holding to her other hand as she walked up to us.

"Jane?" Natasha said, her voice inflected with confusion. "Why aren't you back at Avenger's Tower? Fury's gonna be pissed when he finds out-"

"It's my day off, Tasha," Jane said quickly. "I wasn't aware that I was supposed to come in on my day off." My heart dropped into my stomach. So who was the Jane back at Headquarters?

Without saying a word, I spun on my heel and took off running for Avenger Tower, ignoring my name when it was called by the group of girls I had left behind.

My only thoughts were of Rose. Loki had been looking for her for a reason. He thought SHEILD was trying to harm her in some way. What if the threat wasn't SHIELD at all?

At the thought, my feet propelled my body forward faster. I dodged several pedestrians but had to stop when I came to the last intersection separating me from SHIELD. Several yellow cabs were passing through the intersection. At this rate, it would be minutes before I could get through...

Instead, I used the hood of the first car as a springboard and did a small flip as it drove past. It wasn't going very fast (lucky for me). I landed in the middle of the intersection and dodged the next yellow cab as it blew its horn at me.

Once out of the intersection, I raced for the main entrance of Avenger Tower. I could see Carter and Natasha waiting on the traffic to clear so they could pass, and I could also see a breathless Jane just reaching the point where the other two superheroes were standing.

When I got to the front desk, I flashed my badge quickly and raced to the elevator. "Find me Jane Foster's whereabouts on the premises," I said through my communicator to the security team.

My heart dropped when they came back with "Veronica Parker's room, level 20."

ooOOoo

I clicked a clip into the chamber my pistol and turned the safety off as I raced down the hallway. When I walked into the bedroom, I could see the slim figure of Jane Foster standing over Rose's crib.

_Where was Coulson?_

Jane looked up when I walked in. "Oh, hey V," she said to me. This time I knew I wasn't imagining the yellow irises that surfaced briefly when they lighted on the pistol in my hand. "I was just- I was just checking on Rose. Coulson took lunch when she fell asleep."

"Get away from my baby," I said quietly. "Whoever the hell you are, I know you aren't Jane."

Jane smiled in a most un-Jane-like fashion. "Not sure what you mean," she said. But as she said that, her voice turned to an echo-like rasp. It sounded reptilian almost.

"Then you'll back away from the crib," I said lethally. I trained the gun on her face. "Put your hands on your head," I said.

Jane went to do so, but at the last minute lunged forward. The pistol went off, but her arm shot up and directed the bullet into the ceiling. Rose started crying when the noise woke her up.

In a swift twisting movement, Jane disarmed me, grabbed Rose, and started to back out the door. She held the gun pointed at me the whole time…

Until an unseen force grabbed the gun from behind her and snatched Rose away a second later. Another second later and a few zap-like sounds, Jane had fallen to the floor unconscious.

Phil Coulson stood over her, taser in one hand and Rose in the other. "No one messes with the Coulson," he said in his monotone voice. I let out a breath as I got up from the ground.

I walked over to the limp form on the ground, confusion still palin as day on my face. Jane's form had seemingly melted away and grown considerably to a tall, blue-skinned woman with slicked-back crimson hair. I could only imagine that underneath her closed eyelids were the yellow irises I had noticed earlier.

I let out a sigh of relief as Carter and Natasha came running through the doors.

"What the hellll," Carter said, drawing out the last word. "Why do we miss everything?" She shot a nasty look at Natasha.

The agent returned it, shrugging. "Just because I do not want to risk my neck dodging traffic to chase after Veronica does not mean you can't."

I took rose from Coulson. "Get a security detail up here," he said to Carter. Carter threw her hands up in exasperation and turned on her heel to do so. "And don't forget the taser, McIntyre," he called after her as she walked down the hall. He turned around before he could see the rather ugly gesture she threw involving her middle finger over her left shoulder.

ooOOoo

I was standing in the room that joined the interrogation room of SHIELD. Through the one-way window, I could see the blue woman bound to a chair. I had never seen anything like this. She had been acting as Jane all day… she could have hurt anyone, gained any information… or kidnapped Rose. I had the feeling that had been her intention in the first place.

Fury was in the room with her right now. He was trying to get information from her, but from what I could see, he wasn't getting far. He hadn't let me go in there. Maybe the thought of a mother bear protecting her young was enough to make even Fury worry for a prisoner's life.

I looked over to Tony who was running diagnostics on the biopsy of the prisoner's epithelial tissue. The cells appeared blue under a microscope, and had a different shape compared to normal human cells. The nuclei also appeared much larger and denser, indicating a larger DNA molecule.

I crossed my arms and leaned against the counter that ran as a desk below the window, my back now to the blue woman.

"Got any idea what this is?" I asked Tony as he slid the slide around and adjusted the lenses of the microscope.

He actually laughed. "Your guess is as good as mine, Sunshine," he said, adjusting the slide again.

I bit my lip as Fury came walking through the doors, hands clasped firmly behind his back. "She's not budging. But we have an expert coming in within the hour on mutants."

I furrowed my brow in confusion. "Mutants?"

Fury nodded. "That's what she is. It's really just another word for what superheroes and villains with powers are, but it's the only scientific name I can think of for someone with twice as many nucleotides in their DNA sequence as this... thing."

"What's the specialist's name?" I asked quietly. maybe he could help me with Rose's condition as well…

"Xavier," Fury said. "Charles Xavier."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So I know I promised X-men this chapter, but I figured it would be best to present them in a fresh chapter, yeah? This turned out to be a bit longer as far as the scenario with Mystique… so… yeah<strong>

**Please Review! **

**Also, i don't own Marvel or Carter McIntyre... **


	9. Chapter 9

"_It's much better to face these kinds of things with a sense of poise and rationality."_

_~I Write Sins Not Tragedies_

_By Panic! At the Disco_

* * *

><p>"Who is Charles Xavier?" I asked quietly as we sat in the meeting room, waiting for him to show up.<p>

"He's a psychic, and a damn good one, too," Fury said quickly. "SHIELD's lucky to have him working with us from time to time. Usually we don't call on him unless we're under bad circumstances with prisoners that won't talk. Torture can only get you so far, so you learn to call in a telo-path."

I nodded slightly. What if he could read my thoughts? Would my meeting with Loki surface? Would he know I had seen the enemy just that day and not said a word about it?

"Just don't stare when he comes in," Fury added. My eyes widened. "You'll see."

I stuffed the emotions down as I heard the meeting room door open behind me. I turned around to see the hired psychic.

Charles Xavier was a small man with a bald head and piercing eyes. I automatically felt uncomfortable when he entered the room, despite the humble position his wheel-chair put him in. I looked over at Tony, the only other Avenger that was in the meeting room with me. We had been waiting for the professor for a half hour after we had grown convinced that Mystique was not going to give anything up.

Fury got up and shook hands with the older man. "Xavier, long time, no see," Fury greeted him.

"No need to be polite, Director Fury," Charles said as he returned the handshake. "We all know how stressed you are, even if not all of us are telo-paths." I furrowed my brow as Tony rolled his eyes at me.

"Let me introduce Veronica Parker," Fury said as I stepped forward and shook the man's hand. He kind of looked at me for a second, as if completely unsure of how to react to me. There was a slight confusion in his intelligent gaze.

"Pleased to meet you, sir," I said.

"And you, Ms. Parker." He looked at me for a second longer, as if trying to figure out what I was thinking before turning away, obviously unsatisfied.

When he turned to Tony, the two shook hands, Tony nodding gruffly as he bent down to shake Xavier's hand.

He turned back to Fury, talking about something in the field of interrogative techniques.

Tony turned to me and looked as though he were about to say something in my ear, but was cut off when Xavier started talking to him again.

"And no, Mr. Stark," Xavier said as he turned his head towards Tony and me. "I did not realize that I come across as a pompous ass." Tony sat down and crossed his arms, propping his legs up on the table. It had obviously been what he was about to say to me. Xavier gave a wry smile before he turned back to Fury. "How can I help?"

Fury smirked. "I have a feeling you've had a run in with this mutant before, Doctor. She's pretty bad." Fury got up, motioning for Tony and me to follow the two back to the interrogation room. "She infiltrated our system sometime yesterday morning under the guise of a Miss Jane Foster, one of our top astrophysicists. She has the ability to take the form of different people. It's extremely complete. As in only minor things give her away. A closer look of her DNA indicated that she has twice as many nucleotides as a typical human being."

"Let me guess," Xavier said quietly. "Blue skin, reflective yellow eyes?"

Fury nodded. "Kick-ass fighting skills too."

Xavier nodded. "Mystique. Yes. I have run into her from time to time. But what was she doing here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, Doctor," Fury said. He looked back at me, cutting his eye to meet mine. I bit my lip and looked away.

-Loki-

Loki reappeared in Magneto's office, not bothering with manners anymore. He appeared in the chair that was in front of the old man's desk, hands folded at his stomach and legs crossed. Magneto looked up, startled for the slightest moment before his face was glazed back to a calm and composed expression.

"Why did you have Mystique break into SHIELD under my appearance?" Loki said as he examined a fingernail.

Magneto smiled, sitting back in his chair. "Ah. I should have realized you would find out about that eventually…"

The smooth plane of Loki's forehead crinkled. "Oh, really?" he said, sarcasm dripping with each word. "What did she take?"

Magneto straightened a pen on his desk. After another moment, he responded. "You remember Oberon."

Loki tensed, his hands gripping the arms of the chair he was sitting in.

"Yes, of course you do," Magneto said. "He had a revolutionary development in the blending of demon and mutant DNA. Through the process of DNA amplification, we intend to clone the hybrids he had."

Loki's eyes widened. "Really." It wasn't a question.

Magneto nodded, walking over to a safe in the wall, Erik typed in a code that made the small door swing open. He reached a hand in and pulled out a glowing red orb that looked startlingly familiar: The hybrid egg that Loki had brought back to SHIELD last year.

"Quite a master your old colleague was, Mr. Laufeyson. But before I go any further I wish to know your decision. Will you join us?"

Loki uncrossed his legs and stood up. "I will. On one condition." Loki's thoughts flashed to Veronica and Rose. "My family, no matter their actions, will be granted protection in the new world."

~Veronica~

Xavier had been in the room with Mystique for the past hour. He had sent all three of us from the room and rolled his wheelchair to sit in front of Mystique. After we were concealed behind the glass wall, he had closed his eyes and pressed two fingers to his temple in an attempt to penetrate the blue woman's mind.

Why had he looked at me in such a strange way? I would have expected him to regard me with disgust. But he hadn't. If anything, it seemed he was more confused. I would have expected angry, but not confused….

He resurfaced several minutes later, his arms spinning the wheels of his chair at a rapid pace. "We need to get a team together. Now."

I got up from my seat quickly. "What is going on?" Tony said.

"My old associate, Magneto, or Erik Lehnsherr if you prefer, has intercepted the hybrid egg that went missing several days ago. A certain 'Loki Laufeyson' was flashing through her thoughts as well. He has joined forces with Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants."

My heart dropped. So those were Loki's so-called 'friends.' I had heard things of the Brotherhood during my time out in California when I was taking classes to familiarize myself with the world that SHIELD was involved with. But it had been uncertain exactly what they did. Very much like the school that Charles Xavier ran. Because it was in Great Britain, U.S. jurisdiction would not extend to allow SHIELD to study it in more depth.

"The brotherhood?" Fury said quietly. It was clear he knew the seriousness of the situation.

"Well that little piece of scum," Tony said under his breath. "After all we did to get him pardoned, he ends up stealing the egg from under our noses and teaming up with some old 'brotherhood'. " Tony face-palmed, clearly pissed off.

"Well, Mr. Stark," Xavier said quietly. "From what I have heard of Mr. Laufeyson, he is very much interested in… advancing the planet." By this time we had made it back to the meeting room and had surrounded the round table. "Keep in mind, the brotherhood does not see their actions as evil. They merely see them as the proper path. That evolution must be allowed to run its course. They see their powers as means to a justified end."

The description seemed to fit Loki to a tee.

"I also feel the need to clarify that it was not Mr. Laufeyson that stole the egg, but Mystique. I was able to get that from her thoughts as well. I can only imagine that his attempted arrest for a crime he did not commit led him to join Erik. A rather unfortunate occurrence for SHIELD I am afraid."

I crossed my arms as Xavier and Fury decided what to do next.

Anger boiled inside me. If SHIELD had not been so damn stubborn… Loki and I could be together right now deciding on a way to stop this 'Magneto' guy. I was angry at him. Angry at the world and the unfairness of the situation.

ooOOoo

It was getting late by the time I was able to get off work. I went straight for the break room, grabbing a bottle of water and plopping down in a chair.

"You are very gifted," I heard Xavier's voice come from the doorway and I looked up. "Not many can suppress my powers completely."

I ran a hand through my hair. "What?"

"Well," Xavier said as he rolled his wheel chair up to the table I was sitting at. "The only one I have ever come across that could block out my telepathy completely was wearing a metal helmet designed to do so. Judging by your proportionate skull size, I daresay you don't have a metal plate in your head somewhere."

I blinked by way of answer. "You can't read my thoughts, Professor?"

He shook his head. "No. what is your power again? Forgive me, but I seem to have forgotten since our introduction."

"Electricity." I said it quickly. "I control the electrical currents in an area." I told him the recap of how I had gotten my powers. He crossed his arms.

"And you were… involved for a time with Loki Laufeyson." he said quietly. It wasn't a question. He must have picked that up when he had been with Stark or Fury. Surely they had been thinking about the two of us in some shape or form.

I nodded reluctantly. The mark on my wrist popped up in my thoughts. It was designed to protect me from gods… maybe it could protect me from certain mutants as well…

I rolled up my sleeve, exposing the faded scar in the shape of Loki's lips. "This may have something to do with it."

Xavier studied it for a moment before understanding flashed in his eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So I am hoping I got this chapter down alright. Was Xavier in character? If not, how can I fix that? All comments are appreciated. I want to get him right. <strong>

**Thanks for reading, guys! I am truly honored by the support i have received for this story and the characters in it. :D **

**~Sirius **


	10. Chapter 10

"_Another promise, another scene, another packaged lie to keep us trapped in greed."_

_~ 'Uprising' by Muse_

* * *

><p>~Loki~<p>

Magneto turned back around to face Loki. "No matter their actions, Mr. Laufeyson? I do not see how that will benefit the cause if they are against us." Magneto placed the glowing red orb he had produced back into the safe and reached for a liquor glass.

Loki rolled his eyes before he flung a bit of ice at the glass that Erik had picked up and sent it smashing into the wall. The liquid that had been in the glass froze as the fragments fell to the ground. Loki was not going to allow himself to be brushed off.

"That is my one and only condition to our agreement," Loki said quietly. His tone was deadly.

Magneto seemed to deliberate for a moment, curling his fingers into a ball around the space the cup had been. After another pause, he went back to his seat. "Very well, Mr. Laufeyson, I will play your game."

Loki gave a smirk as he eased himself back into his own chair. Now they were getting along. If only just…

"Now. What are your complete plans?" Loki asked. "I do not expect to be left out of any information. If that does occur… well, let us say that things will end badly. Almost as badly as if you harm my family."

Magneto gave Loki a sober look before he launched into his plan. "I want to overtake this world, my good man. I have told you of my view of humans, and I am quite certain that you agree with me."

Loki rested his elbow on the arm of his chair, bringing a hand to rest elegantly under his chin. "Go on," was all he said as he examined the other hand, feigning disinterest.

Erik pulled out a large document, spreading the rolled up paper out for Loki to see. It was the preliminary sketches of some sort of machine. A closer look told Loki that it possessed great abilities to emit radiation in a concentrated form. Even to Loki, this was impressive. For a mortal, that is. But he most definitely was not going to let this man know that.

"This machine was used by myself in an attempt to take over New York several years ago. It was designed to mutate any human in its path, killing the weak and making the strong into the very things they feared." As Loki sat up in his seat to look closer, Erik rolled the document back up in one deft movement. "I will take you down to see it after we are through here, but rest assured, it is fully functional. It just requires the appropriate power source." Loki arched an eyebrow, but allowed the old man to change the subject. Loki was sure that he could conjure anything that would be needed to fuel a simple mortal machine.

"Now, in speaking about our army," Magneto said as he pressed a button on his desk. Somewhere, Loki's ears detected a small signal being given in the lower levels. "Mystique, as you know, is one of my most gifted colleagues. She infiltrated SHIELD to spy this morning." Loki's eyes flashed, and Magneto was able to determine that his thoughts were on his family.

"Who else is there?" Loki asked quickly, suppressing the stupid urges that always came when his family was threatened. The urge to kill whoever dared hurt his wife or daughter. He could not afford for those emotions to run him now. This was the best way to protect them. This was what he was going to do.

The doors opened as a huge man with long blonde hair and black eyes and a shorter man that resembled an amphibian of some sort walked into the room and lingered at the entrance. "This is Toad," Loki nodded to the shorter man that Erik had indicated. "And Sabertooth."

Loki automatically knew he would not like the mutant called Sabertooth. Despite the elongated teeth and black eyes, the mutant reminded him a bit of his insufferable brother, Thor. The mutant cocked his head at the god of mischief by way of greeting.

"These are merely my first wave of guards, Mr. Laufeyson. More will be coming as the signal for war spreads."

Loki nodded. "Now. As far as command, I believe it would be… prudent for the leaders to be spaced in different points of command. Perhaps in the areas that will be divided up once the war is over?" Loki was using this as a way to test Magneto; to ensure that he would have a share.

Magneto steepled his fingers, looking to the right of them at Loki. "Tell me, Mr. Laufeyson," the old man said as he straightened another metal pen on his desk. "What do you think of Europe?"

Loki's smirk turned into a smile of amusement at the mortal's suggestion.

~Veronica~

"Momma!" the little sound was quickly followed by my gasp of pain as the knife I had been sharpening slipped and cut my thumb. I barely noticed the pain as I whipped my head around to see little Rose standing in her crib, standing herself up by clinging to the rail. Her crystal blue eyes looked at me expectantly, blinking once, twice.

"What did you say?" I said as I set the knife down and walked over to her. She blinked one more time before smiling up at me.

"Momma!" she said in a higher tone. She reached up for me, little hands clenching and unclenching towards me. Of course I picked her up, but my mind raced with what could possibly have made this seven-month year old child suddenly act like she was three. It was as if in the little under a month we had been in SHIELD she had grown at a much faster rate.

Her baby arms and legs were more developed now and her dark hair reached down past her collar. How could I have missed her sudden growth? I knew it was probably a side-effect of Loki's frost-giant blood, but it still bothered me that I had no control or say in how she was going to be. I had never felt so helpless.

I wished Loki was here.

_Stop that. He's not on your side anymore._

But what if he was? Mystique had been the one that ruined the family we had started. And she was somewhere in the bowels of SHIELD being questioned by Xavier.

Speaking of the professor, he had brought in a few of his so-called 'best students.' We were supposed to be meeting with them in the next half-hour actually.

_Great. More new superhero friends_. I started to wonder just how special being 'super' actually was when there were so _many_ of us.

Rose let out a little shriek as I set her down on the round carpet in the center of the bedroom. She stuck her thumb in her mouth, gazing up at me as I went back to work with the knives. I would just have to make a point to speak with Charles about her. That was all there was to it.

ooOOoo

A half-hour later, I was seated next to Natasha and Thor, waiting on the mutants to get there. I tapped my bandaged thumb on the table in time with the clock's second hand.

One minute… two minutes… five minutes… Good God, X-men certainly weren't well known for their punctuality now were they?

Fifteen minutes later, Xavier came rolling in followed by a woman with white hair and stormy eyes and a man with a form of covering over his eyes. The two were quite young. Probably in their late twenties, early thirties.

"Come along, Logan," Xavier said out into the hallway. "We haven't got all day." But his tone was still kind.

A sturdy man of medium height came through the door slowly, obviously not wanting to be here. He kept his arms crossed, regarding the room with utter disinterest. I had a hard time keeping my face straight at his hair-do. It seemed to be formed into a position to look like cat ears.

The woman was introduced as Storm and the first man as Cyclops. The other man -Logan- was introduced as Wolverine. Tony suppressed the urge to roll his eyes yet again. He was going to get his ass kicked one day. And from the look Wolverine was giving him, that day may have been coming sooner than he thought if he didn't watch it.

"Alright then, "Fury said as he shook hands with each of the new mutants. "Welcome to the SHIELD Avenger initiative."

The two took a seat as Xavier rolled up to the table. The meeting was now in session.

ooOOoo

After a meeting that lasted for several hours, and another half hour dedicated strictly to planning. We had a firm idea of what we were going up against.

Apparently, Magneto had gone up against man-kind countless times. Some he had won – minor victories at the most-, but his last defeat at the hands of the X-men a few years ago had forced him to go into hiding. Even his old acquaintance Xavier did not know where he was.

But one thing we knew for sure: He had the egg. The group was also was able to infer that Loki was working with him. Of course, I was damn positive this was the case.

But we needed to figure out where Magneto was first, what Mystique had wanted with Rose, and what exactly he thought having Loki on his side would accomplish when it came down to battle. (other than the obvious bonus having a powerful sorcerer on your side provided.) SHIELD forces paled when compared with the images and plans Xavier had described as he gave a recap of what he had extracted from Mystique.

I had asked why Xavier did not know where Magneto was based on Mystique's thoughts, but that he had explained that something like that had been placed on safeguard in her mind, blocked to even the most formidable psychic.

Also, why was Charles unable to read my mind? The professor had seemed slightly conufesed still, but he seemed to think the mark had something to do wi th it.

But I knew one way of getting at least a hefty portion of the information we needed, and it involved a certain god of mischief.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Ok, this chapter did NOT want to be written. Sorry, guys! Hopefully it was okay? I plan on working into a more action- filled plot line in the next few chapters, I just really needed to get the base work down first. <strong>


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Don't own Marvel…**

* * *

><p>"<em>Now I will tell you what I've done for you. <em>

_Fifty thousand tears I've cried. _

_Screaming, deceiving, and bleeding for you. _

_And you still won't hear me."_

_~'Going Under' by Evanescence_

* * *

><p>-Loki-<p>

Loki trailed a hand over the cold metal railing of Magneto's machine. The schematic drawings hardly lived up to the real thing. This was a work of genius.

"I am glad you find it to your satisfaction," Erik said from below Loki. Loki looked through the metal-grate-like floor he was standing on down at the old man. With an inward smirk, he turned back to the machine.

"What did you say would be used to power it?" Loki called down, but the mutant didn't hear him. Right at that moment, Sabertooth had come plowing through the doors of the building's entrance to join the two outside.

"Sir," he growled. "We just got word that Mystique has been captured."

Loki felt Erik's mood shift from cool and calm to annoyed and angry in a matter of seconds. Loki suppressed another smirk. Veronica surely had had something to do with Mystique's capture…

He knew he should be worried, but things were too early in the game to grow aggravated, something Erik had not yet learned. There was always a good chance of releasing Mystique before the initial attack could begin.

Magneto had taken off after Sabertooth, leaving Loki at the machine. Somewhere in the back of his brain, he got the feeling that he was being called…

~Veronica~

"Ah," Charles said as he examined Rose's charts that SHIELD doctors had come up with. "She is a powerful one."

Rose was sitting off in the corner, playing with a few toys, not paying us any attention.

"But why is she aging so quickly?" I said quickly. I wanted to get the information as soon as possible.

Xavier shrugged as he looked through the rest of the stack of papers. "Some mutants are known for unexplainable aging. My guess- and this is really all this is seeing as I have not dealt with demi-gods before- would be that she has inherited the Frost-Giant powers of wielding ice or water. Somewhere along the particular genetic sequence for her body to manage that, the gene for quick development was triggered when her powers were and began taking effect. When did you say you first noticed her powers?"

"At the six-month mark. About a month ago."

Xavier nodded. "Yes. That would seem correct. For particularly powerful mutants, powers are expressed between six months and two years of age. That explains why she is developing so quickly."

I bit my lower lip as Rose started gnawing on her fingers. Quite suddenly, she chomped down on one with her now four front teeth. For a split instant, she looked shocked, and then proceeded to look at me and scream her head off.

I fought to contain my laughter as I excused myself from Charles and got up to pick her up. "Well you did it to yourself, silly," I said as I brushed a few stray hairs from her forehead.

I sat back down with her on my knee.

Xavier reached over to take her right hand in his and uncurled her spit covered fingers to examine the mark there.

The small, thin circle with a Celtic knot in the center emitted a soft, blue light. "This, I would imagine, is the source of her power." He released her hands as he scribbled a few notes down in his notebook and grabbed a calling card. "I must return back to my school for the time being now that Logan and the others are here, but keep this in case you need me before I return."

I took the card from him after we shook hands. After he was gone, I looked down at the neat type.

_Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters_

ooOOoo

The room was dark around me as I slipped quietly from bed. Rose was lying asleep in her crib. Her sleep patterns had become far more stable now and I knew I had a bit of time to get in and out before she woke up. A sudden muffled boom came from the training room and I cringed. The floor shook slightly, but Rose didn't wake up. It was three in the morning and if Hawkeye didn't go to bed soon I was literally going to go down and take all of his 'explosive arrows' and put them in a dark, dark place. I cursed the day Tony had designed them for him.

Making sure that the security system SHIELD had installed after Mystique's little break-in was in pIace, I slipped into my leather jacket and walked down the hall, keeping a small baby monitor on my belt.

As I stuck my head into the training room, another boom went off as, sure enough, Hawkeye shot an arrow into a target designed to look like a person. But my confusion deepened when I noticed the arrow was not exploding… the boom had come from somewhere else in the room.

To my left, I could make out the figure of Cyclops shooting red laser beams from his eyes at another target. He and Hawkeye seemed to have worked out a system to practice combat skills. Now that I thought about it, they would make a pretty awesome team.

Neither had noticed my presence, so I kept moving. I hadn't gotten up to check on training routines. Tonight I was sneaking out to get information that SHIELD needed.

I got out of the building without any problems despite the heightened security. Wasn't sure how I could swing that, but since it worked I didn't ask questions.

I took off at a faster pace down the dark, lamp-lit streets of New York. I was headed towards Central Park. Loki had often told me that he enjoyed the expanse of trees that grew in the center of New York, and I thought I might find him there. Surely he was keeping tabs on me anyway.

It was a strangely warm night as I slipped through a hole in the gated entrance of the park. No one was around and I jumped when a raccoon ran across the path up ahead. I was literally that tense. I kept a blade in the inner breast pocket of my coat ready. I realized how dangerous this was. Only an incredibly stupid person would be walking around at this time of night. The fact that not only was I doing that very thing, but looking for Loki as well, didn't make me feel any better.

Surely he would see me and come out to find me. I sat down on a bench to wait, ears pricked for any sound that would give a living thing away.

It wasn't sound but a creeping wave of cold air that made me sit up straighter and my fingers curl around the handle of the blade.

He was here.

I stood up quickly, rotating slowly to decipher where he would show himself. A tall figure emerged from the woods right in front of me, and I lowered my defense… until a familiarly chilling voice whispered 'Boo!' in my ear from behind me.

I jumped and spun around, blade in hand. Another look behind me told me that the dark figure I had just seen was gone, a figment of Loki's magic.

Loki stopped the blade by grabbing my wrist with his hand, a little smirk playing on his thin lips. I tore my eyes away when I realized that I was focusing entirely too much on those lips…

"Always one to jump the gun, aren't we, Dear?" he said as I took a step back. I threw him a smirk to rival his own.

"I'm here to talk to you. That's all," I said as I crossed my arms and shifted my footing slightly.

He rolled his eyes at me as he tried to take my hand in his own. I pulled my arms around myself tighter. Something stirred in his eyes, but he allowed me to remain as I was. The gold ring on his left hand seemed to shine brighter than ever.

"Then I am listening," he said with a sarcastic bow.

I ignored it. How best to broach this topic?

"What are you planning with a certain mutant called Magneto?" I asked quickly. I cursed my lack of art in the matter, but I had never had a knack for words. That had always been Loki's expertise.

He looked as though he may burst out laughing. "Why, Veronica, would I tell you? Especially given the fact that you are still working with SHIELD when I warned you about them? Forgive me, but I see no room for trust in this matter when you cannot trust me."

"Loki, please," I said quietly. "We have Mystique behind bars right now. She was the one that broke in. We know that now. You could have been pardoned, but instead you had to go and join with this guy, the man who _framed_ you, before you could take your next breath ."

Loki shrugged. "That does not bother me. Veronica, you must understand that I am not a good man. I never was. My only concern is for you and Rose's safety. I told you that from the beginning. SHIELD…" he froze as he thought of what to say next. "SHIELD has never been my ally because SHIELD and I are not on the same plane. We never will be." He stepped closer to me. "But I do know that I love you. With all of my being and that will not change. Veronica, sweetheart, come back with me."

Something was starting to piss me off. "No," the word came out defiantly as my eyes met his. " Loki, you say you love me, yet you are unwilling to change for me. All this time you have been plotting against SHIELD, knowing I work for them, knowing I will fight against you. Which leaves me wondering, Love," I sneered the last word. "Do you love _me_ or just the _idea _of me? The thought that you have a woman that will take you back into bed no matter your deeds. A pet to comfort you after you go out and murder and steal and cheat and lie."

Loki looked as though I had struck him.

"Do you even know what love is?" I whispered as he stepped even closer into my personal space. His chest was almost six inches away from my nose. I shivered as I felt his cold breath cascade over my shoulders. It was coming in short waves to match his anger. I felt his hands shoot for my neck roughly and panic welled up in my stomach as a cold hand reached around to the back of my neck, pulling me roughly into him…

Then all of it stopped as his lips met mine.

I stiffened, letting him kiss me but fighting with all my being not to return it. I nearly died when he tried to deepen the kiss and force my mouth open. But I held my ground this time, keeping my lips in a tight line.

When he pulled away a lifetime later, his gaze was penetrating my very soul. "I would say I know how to love quite well," he said quietly, breathing harder after the kiss.

I was breathing hard as well from the exertion of not giving into him. "That's not what I meant."

Loki arched an eyebrow. "So all of those months at the shore proved nothing to you? Veronica, I love you. But I am an independent man. I will do what I feel is best."

I gave him a dirty look, the tears were coming back and I cursed my emotions. "Fine, I am an independent woman who will stop you." The words came out exceedingly strong despite the weakness that was threatening to consume me.

He let me go roughly and I stumbled backwards a few feet. "So here we find ourselves yet again. Somewhere on the brink of destruction."

I nodded.

"So be it," he said as he brought his cape around him in a sweeping motion and was gone in the next second.

I was alone in Central Park yet again.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Phew… dark chapter, huh? XD I think I need to take a break from Biology class. All that genetics stuff in the beginning with Rose came straight from my class notes… well, minus the whole mutant part of it… XD hope this chapter was good… <strong>

**Please review! **

**~Sirius**


	12. Chapter 12

**Don't own MArvel or Carter McIntyre. She belongs to the wonderful MacnMeez.**

* * *

><p>"<em>There is a definite line between a love and a possession" <em>

_~unknown_

* * *

><p>-Loki-<p>

Loki returned from his meeting with Veronica, heading to the quarters Magneto had given him. That insufferable, ungrateful woman. Who did she think she was? Telling him what he could and could not do…

Of course he knew what love was. It was the very thing that had kept him fighting for her for the past two years. It had saved him from the coma he had been in… _because of her_. It had brought him back from the dead, for god's sakes. She had always been there. Always been the essence of his existence since they had met. She had born his child. She was his wife. _Of course he loved her_.

And she loved him. She still did. That kiss they had shared had been a terrible hardship for her to resist. She had wanted it.

She would be his again. He made this vow to himself. She would be his queen in the new world. Whether she liked it or not. He needed her. He could not go on without her or their daughter at his side.

She would be his in the end.

His Veronica.

His.

~Veronica~

My stomach sank to see who I was supposed to be sparring with that day. Give me Tony? No problem. Sounded like fun. Thor? It would be a challenge, but at least it wouldn't be embarrassing if he beat me. Hell, I'd rather fight the incredible Hulk compared to what I was going up against today.

Natasha Romanoff, AKA Black Widow, was over by the window of the training area, stretching in expert form. I had heard stories about her and none ended well for her opponents. In a nutshell, I was not looking forward to sparring with a woman that was close to six inches shorter than me, probably thirty pounds lighter, and was perfectly capable of landing me on my ass in a matter of seconds.

I heard a low whistle come from behind me and I turned to see Hawkeye, arms crossed and a smile stamped across his face, looking at the list over my shoulder.

"Hot damn," he said when I looked at him. "Looks like we're gonna have ourselves a cat fight today!"

"Clint, I swear to God-"

He turned around quickly to go tell everyone what was going down. I saw Steve blush when Hawkeye apparently told him what was to be expected. I was able to make out "Clothes everywhere" and something about "wicked fun" but that was about it. Tony winked at me.

I suppressed a grimace as I turned around to head to breakfast… and ran smack dab into Logan's chest.

"Watch it," he growled.

Something inside me snapped. I don't know exactly what, but something was making me feel quite volatile. "You watch it," I snapped. Immediately I regretted the words.

Logan brushed me off, but for a minute it had looked like he was going to hit me. I would have welcomed the fight, but the mutant walked past me, bumping into my shoulder.

"Don't mind him," Scot -Cyclops- said as he walked up to me. "He can be a dick sometimes. Actually most of the time, but you learn to love him."

"Really?" I said flatly. The mutant shook his head and mouthed the word "no" at me. I smirked. "I'm Veronica," I said as I held out my hand for him to shake.

"Scot," he replied.

I left the training room briefly to grab a bit of breakfast before the match. I also just needed the alone time. It had been a month since I had seen Loki last. A month in which Rose had grown to be able to toddle around on her own, forcing Coulson to keep her on a leash. Everything was happening too quickly to make me feel good about anything. I hadn't even gotten excited about Rose's first steps.

At the thought of Loki, the granola bar I was eating felt like saw dust in my mouth. The past month had kept me extremely busy working with Jane's team and getting back into Avenger shape. Thor's obstacle courses were back… with bigger scorpions than when I had first tried them.

I looked up momentarily to see McIntyre coming through the door of the break room. She grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down beside me, propping her legs up on the table. "What's up?" she asked as she stretched her arms out behind her head.

I smiled. A forced smile. "Not much, really."

"You worried about sparring today?" she said as she examined a speck of dirt on her boot, knocking it off with the toe of her other boot. "Hawkeye seems to be pret-ty excited." She emphasized each syllable of the word 'pretty' as she smirked.

"Yeah. He mentioned something about cat fights." My tone was monotonous and silence ensued. The clock on the wall kept ticking…

After a few minutes, Bruce walked in the room, did a double take of Carter, and all but ran straight out of the room. I cut my eyes at her. "I think you have an admirer," I said quietly.

Carter's neon green eyes opened wide. "Really?"

I bit my lip as I nodded, trying to suppress the first smile that had crossed my lips in weeks.

"Well," she said as she sat up straighter. "It's not all _that_ surprising. What? With these legs?" she said with a smile on her face. "But who?" she said this part a bit more seriously.

I rolled my eyes. "Dr. Banner, of course," I said as I got up to throw the wrapper of my granola bar away.

Carter's eyes got bigger. "Really?"

I nodded. Before we could say anything else, both of our pagers, declaring the time to begin practice.

ooOOoo

BAM. I fell to the ground for the second time in five minutes as Natasha's legs wrapped around my upper torso and slammed me to the ground. I landed on my back, staring up at the tiles of the ceiling.

"Oh, come on, Sunshine!" I could hear Tony saying to me from across the room. "you got this!"

I heard a subsequent "she ain't got his" escape from his lips as he turned back to spar with Carter… and I laughed when she landed him on his own back.

That made me feel a bit better as Tasha stood over me, arms crossed and waiting for me to get back up. I returned her expression before I made to get up. Instead of getting on me feet to reach her level, however, I brought my feet around and kicked her weight out from under her.

She landed on the ground with a soft thud and I felt a wave of satisfaction come over me. Finally. After thirty minutes of getting my ass kicked, I had gotten her back- which was something I was pretty sure she was not accustomed to.

I got up quickly, backing away from her and walking over to the ice-cooler. I grabbed a bottle of water as I studied each pair.

Carter and Tony were going at it pretty hard and so were Thor and the woman called Storm. Instead of actual sparring, the two were working with miniature thunder clouds. Thor was simply captivated by the woman's ability to do something that he could without his help. I would have to make a point of working with her next time seeing as our powers were so similar.

Scot and Hawkeye were working together as well, much in the same manner as they had the first night I had seen them. Time had only perfected their technique.

As for Banner, he sat off to the side, typing away at a computer and trying very hard to stay out of people's way. At least he was here, though. Logan hadn't bothered showing up at all.

If there was such a thing as a nice drill-sergeant, Steve Rogers was it. He walked around everyone's posts, making sure we didn't kill each other and helping with techniques where he could.

I only had one more round with Natasha and then I could quit for the day and go back to Rose.

Always one to get things over with, I walked back up to the mat and prepared myself for her onslaught. I was NOT looking forward to this.

She flipped her dark curls from her face as she did a handspring towards me and delivered a perfect kick to my face. I staggered backwards, cringing as I allowed myself to let her advance the attack. I brought my hand up and caught her next kick, setting her weight off balance as I did so.

She managed to get away from my grasp in a twisting motion and staggered backwards, summing me up as she did so. Her eyes narrowed… and I thought I had her until she sprang at me faster than one of my lightning bolts and knocked my face into the mat.

ooOOoo

I was having a really shitty day to say the least. I had never felt so… stupid? Useless? What was the right word? Oh, yeah. A failure.

I sat rocking Rose to sleep in my arms, her small face was calm and composed as her eyelids drooped shut. I laughed at the little t-shirt she was wearing.

That had been the highlight of my day. Tony Stark had decided to pick a t-shirt up for her that said "Coulson's Minion" in black letters on a white background. Of course, it had solicited several laughs from SHIELD employees to see Agent Coulson, Supernanny, walking down the halls of SHIELD with a toddler on a leash dressed in a shirt like that.

I was quite certain that had always been Tony's intent.

Just as Rose drifted to sleep, the pager on my belt (which was consequentially right by her head) went off. Her little blue eyes snapped open in a panic. And I held my breath, waiting for her to start crying. Only she didn't.

I shifted her to my other side as I reached down for the pager.

_Avengers and SHIELD employee meeting to begin now. _

_Code Red _

I got up quickly, slipping into my hoodie and racing down the hall with Rose in tow.

When I got there, I could see Thor and Jane sitting sleepily next to each other, both obviously holding hands under the table, as well as the rest of the team. McIntyre and Coulson were at the head of the table with Fury, faces grim. Steve was standing up at parade rest, the only position he knew to assume when this stressed.

_What was going on?_

Rose caught up with me and I picked her up to comfort her. She had never been in this type of setting before and she could feel the waves of stress rolling off of each and every one of the people in the room.

Fury spoke first. "Agents, Avengers, there is an international crisis on our hands at this very moment. SHIELD headquarters in Great Britain, Germany, and France have been overrun by Magneto's Brotherhood."

_Loki Laufeyson, we will meet again after all._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: CLiffhannngggerrrrr ;) <strong>

**Sorry! I just love these so much! It makes me feel good… **

**Please Review!**

**~Sirius **


	13. Chapter 13

**Don't Own Marvel...**

* * *

><p>"<em>And I want these words to make things right, <em>

_but it's the wrongs that make the words come to life."_

_~'Thanks for the Memories' by Fallout Boy_

* * *

><p>-Loki-<p>

As Loki looked over the burning buildings of France's SHIELD headquarters, he could not help but feel a sense of pride well up inside of him. He sat atop the rooftop of the only remaining building: the communications tower. He allowed himself a smirk at the inferiority of mankind.

Oh, they would try to stop him, yes. But they wouldn't succeed. Not this time. This time he knew exactly what he was doing. He also had Magneto on his side. As much as he hated to admit it, Erik had proved to be a valuable source of power in the past month. The Brotherhood had grown, nearly tripling in size. Mutants wanted revenge for the wrongs mankind had done them. And all of this had happened right under SHIELD's nose. While the Avengers had 'trained' and 'performed research' on countless pointless experiments, Loki and Magneto had brought an army from the dust. An army that was now already halfway successful in taking over the earth. All in a matter of months.

Loki had always thrived on this sort of thing. Turmoil, mischief, war, anything along those lines helped him breathe a little easier. Mankind needed that. He had even been worshiped as a god for it thousands of Midgardian years ago.

Those days, though long gone, may soon come back. Loki's smirk turned into a full blown grin as he considered the possibilities for his god-like status to return.

"S-sir," a young mutant whose name Loki had already forgotten called to him from the floor below the roof Loki was crouching on. Loki pulled himself from his thoughts.

"What? What is it?" his voice was cold, the voice of a dictator fit to lead.

"Magneto's on line three."

Loki rolled his eyes as he stood up. Magneto had been in North America, plotting to release Mystique from SHIELD forces. Apparently there were several other high-security mutants being kept in the detention cells of SHIELD that Magneto thought would be of some value as well. Splendid. New recruits to an already disorganized army.

Though Loki was impressed with the swift overtake Magneto's army was capable of, he could not shake the fact that the army was a melting pot of the world's mutants. In Asgard, Loki had always been taught that an army was meant to be completely united in ability and presentation. Magneto's army boasted no such thing.

There was a plethora of abilities. Ranging from telepathy to fire breathers. Many had abnormal features like red skin or strange eyes. This was nothing Loki was used to and he had had no idea that people like this existed in such a multitude.

He dropped into the control tower and took the communication device from the young mutant roughly.

"Yes." His voice was cold and fluid as he spoke into the ear piece.

"The other headquarters have fallen, Mr. Laufeyson. I am in England now. We are ready to take the surrounding areas at my end if you are at yours." Erik's voice was triumphant. The old man was just as pleased as Loki to see SHIELD fall. Both knew that once these headquarters fell, Europe would be easily taken.

"Excellent. I am ready as well," Loki replied. He nodded to the mutant in the room with him, telling the young man to type in Morse code for troops to take the capitol of France.

From there, the troops would spread outward, invading town after town, until the country was overrun and forced to surrender.

In the back of his brain, he hoped Veronica would try to stop him. That would make winning her over that much more interesting.

He would take her in his arms again, and press his lips against hers. He imagined she would fight him at first, but he would like the struggle. It would make her finally giving into him that much sweeter.

He hung the communication device back on the hook and vanished from the room in a puff of smoke. He had other things to think about before he would allow himself time think about his wife.

~Veronica~

I sat listening to the reports that came pouring in. Even CNN and FOX news had gotten their hands on the destruction going on in Europe. It was very hard to comprehend that fortresses of these magnitudes had fallen.

SHIELD had been stupid not to go after Magneto and Loki sooner. We had been lulled into a false sense of security after we had gotten Mystique. She was still under extreme surveillance in the holding cells of SHIELD… probably laughing her head off at us.

"What do we do now?" I heard someone ask, but I wasn't paying attention to know who.

Fury turned from the television screen. "I'm… working on it." Dear God. Fury didn't even know what we were going to do? Things were not looking good for the home team.

I cringed when another explosion shook the camera's stability and the building right in front of the camera was reduced to rubble. Rose took the whole thing in with a grave solemnity. I could tell she somehow understood.

Did she realize it was her father that was responsible for this mess? Did she even remember who her father was? She hadn't seen him since she was an infant. I worried for her. Worried about what he would do if he ever got to her somehow. I knew he wouldn't dare hurt her, but I didn't want her exposed to the world I had been forced into when I fell in love with him.

Her little body had gotten cold as she watched the television. "Do you want to go?" I asked her quietly.

She turned those piercing blue eyes to me and shook her head. _No_.

Storm stood up, looking to Scot before speaking. "Have we gotten any word on the school? From Xavier?" Her tone was slightly desperate.

Fury shook his head. "No. but we are taking that as a good thing. Magneto is not going to destroy an entire school of possible recruits. Not by a longshot."

Who were we to say what Magneto would and wouldn't do? We obviously hadn't been that great of a judge in the first place. I held my tongue.

"I'll try to make contact with Charles," Scot said from across the table. He scooted his chair away from the table and left the room.

"When do you think they'll target us?" I heard Steve ask from behind me.

"Soon. But it seems that Europe is Magneto's prime target right now. Once that is secured he will have not only mutants, but those humans he forces to serve, in his army. He could very easily make this into World War 3." Fury was looking at the screen again.

I bit my lower lip. "Then we stop him before he can."

-Loki-

Loki reappeared next to Magneto several seconds later. To his left, a burning SHIELD headquarters in England was being resolved to rubble. He tried to ignore the screams of some of the people trapped inside. This was a means to a justified end… but he could not shake the thought of what Veronica would think of him. To see him murdering. She would hate him for it, no doubt about it.

But in the end, when she was next to him on the throne of his new kingdom, holding their child safely in her arms, she would thank him. He had to believe that.

He straightened the collar of his tunic- he had recreated his green armor once more- and turned to Magneto.

"Is all going well here?" he asked quietly.

"Quite well, Mr. Laufeyson. My men have taken this headquarters and are moving towards London as we speak. They will have Parliament by morning."

"And what of Mystique? Do you have a plan of action to free her?"

"All in good time, Mr. Laufeyson. Yes. She will be freed very soon."

"And my wife and child will not be harmed."

Magneto nodded.

Loki allowed himself a smirk. Sooner or later, American SHIELD headquarters would come to the aid of their European counterparts. And along with them, Veronica. But something told him he needed to get to her sooner than later. He did not trust Magneto enough to allow him to send in forces to free Mystique when Veronica and Rose were so near. It could very easily turn into a bloodbath like what he was witnessing in here… it would be too easy for his family to get lost amongst the rubble…

With this in mind, he turned to face the burning building. As the roof caved in, the screams of agony within it were cut off very suddenly.


	14. Chapter 14

**Don't own Marvel... or Carter McIntyre**

* * *

><p>"<em>Should I let you fall? Lose it all?<em>

_So maybe you can remember yourself?"_

_~Sober by Evanescence_

* * *

><p>-Loki-<p>

Several hours after SHIELD had fallen in England, Loki found himself standing in Magneto's office. The old man had wanted to have a meeting with him in private. The European front had fallen far more quickly than the two had anticipated. North America would soon be in their sights.

Magneto's eyes shining with the victory the two had gained. Loki had never imagined that this day would come so quickly.

"I must say I am very impressed, Erik," Loki said as he sat down in front of the old man's desk.

Erik nodded. "As am I, Mr. Laufeyson. With these countries under our power now, the rest of Europe will have no choice but to surrender." Loki nodded. "But-" Magneto began after a moment's pause. "There will be the issue of the remaining humans."

Loki crossed his legs as he looked Magneto dead in the eye. "I highly doubt it. Fear is a powerful ally."

Magneto pursed his lips- that was the only way Loki could describe it. "I am not satisfied with mere 'fear', Mr. Laufeyson."

Loki crinkled his brow in an attempt to understand what Erik was hinting at. Loki would have been happy with a continent of subservient humans, finally in their rightful place. To him, that would be more than enough.

"I am talking about revenge for what the human race has done to me," Erik said, his tone lethal and quiet.

Loki shrugged. "And what did you have in mind?"

Magneto drummed his fingers on the metal desk before he got up swiftly. "You remember the machine I showed you?"

Loki nodded. Of course he remembered it. It had impressed him highly.

"Well, as I told you, that machine has the ability to change mere humans from normal to mutants in mere seconds."

Loki nodded. He knew all of this.

"But I find myself in a dilemma. The power source is a very rare thing to come by."

Loki spoke up. "I can summon or create any materials you need. Just tell me."

Magneto looked as though he may laugh. "The power source, Mr. Laufeyson, is not an inanimate object, but a mutant." Magneto had sat back down now, steepling his fingers and looking over the tops of them at Loki. "An extremely powerful mutant must be in contact with its surfaces- primarily the railing you were standing at earlier- in order to emit the radiation."

An extremely powerful mutant? What was this man playing at?

"How powerful?" Loki asked quietly.

Magneto let out a deep breath before he answered. "Ahh. It would take great power indeed. The mutant would have to be exceedingly gifted with a strong familial mutant background."

Loki knew what Magneto was going to say before the words were out of his mouth.

"Someone like your daughter, Mr. Laufeyson."

~Veronica~

I was in my room now, preparing for battle. Apparently, Fury was dispatching a team to head out and attempt to stop Magneto and Loki from overtaking Europe. That same team also was supposed to follow Storm and Scot back to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

I was not on that team.

The team that was going consisted of Steve, Thor, and Natasha. I was to remain here with Rose alongside Thor, Barton, and Bruce in an attempt to hold down the fort and guard Mystique. We didn't have any idea when Magneto would break in on our home turf, and we needed to be somewhat prepared. Quite frankly, I saw no point in heading directly into enemy territory to check on a school. Surely it was overrun by now. What was the point in sending some of our best into the thicket? But Fury had made up his mind. I was not going to argue.

Rose watched me get ready with an intense gaze as she sat cross legged on the couch. Her dark hair brushed the tip of her collar and she constantly pushed it out of her eyes. Sitting there looking at me, she looked like she was five.

I slipped my boots on, sliding the old boot knife I owned into the side. The cold metal of my silver pistols heightened my senses as I loaded them. This was for real. I had thought I was done going into battles when I had married Loki. I hadn't known at the time that that would be the cause of my biggest battle yet.

Rose blinked once as she took in my new outfit. She had never seen me like this and it had to be weird for her. Coulson was supposed to be picking her up soon to transport her to a safehouse until we could sort this out. I wasn't interested in losing her to Loki's cause.

I shuddered to think that all it would take for him to get to her would be a flick of his wrist, a teleportation in and out, and she would be gone. At such a young age, he could tell her anything he wanted her to believe. I shook that idea from my thoughts as I turned to shrug into my jacket.

ooOOoo

"Be safe," I said as I gave Steve a hug bye. He nodded.

"Will do. Hopefully we can squash this uprising before things get too much worse." I nodded solemnly. Both of us knew things most definitely could NOT get any worse. A few minutes ago, SHIELD had gotten word that France had completely surrendered to the mutant army. Germany wasn't looking much better.

I would have said bye to Thor, but he and Jane were too, erm, busy. Let's just say I tried to keep my gaze away from the couple as they made their final goodbyes. Tasha brushed past me, not saying a word.

"Bye, Tasha. Be careful," I said quietly. She turned around, swinging her hair out of her eyes.

"You too, V," she said to me after deliberating for a moment. I saw a smile play around her lips before she boarded the plane behind Steve. Thor and Jane had pulled from each other's grasp now, and I saw Thor trudge solemnly up to the plane.

He laid a hand on my shoulder before he boarded. "Protect your powers. Do not give into him," he said quietly. No one else could hear us. "He is beyond help now." I bit my lip.

I knew this had to be hard for Thor too. I had forgotten that while I had lost a husband to Magneto, he had lost a brother for the second time.

Before I could respond, Thor had patted me on the head and boarded the plane.

I turned to Jane who was now being consoled by McIntyre. I could tell the young scientist was trying hard not to cry. She didn't know if she would ever see him again, or the rest of the team for that matter. The X-men had gone with them to take back the school.

"It'll be alright, Jane," Carter said. "He'll be back before you know it."

Jane just sniffled. We cleared the runway for the plane to take off after that, and I saw a tear roll down her cheek before she caught me looking and turned away.

ooOOoo

Back at SHIELD, I sat waiting with Rose for Coulson. I braided her hair to keep the shoulder length strands from landing in her eyes during the move.

"Mommy," she said. "Coulson coming soon?"

I smiled sadly as I nodded. "He is, sweetheart. He's gonna take you somewhere safe until we can get this mess sorted out."

Rose's mouth twisted with confusion. "You no come?"

I tucked a stray lock of her hair into the braid. "No, sweetie. Not this time. But I will see you soon."

She nodded solemnly. That was all she ever did anymore. Her only mood was a quiet understanding. I hated that she had to grow up in this type of environment. Jane walked into the room, red-eyed and puffy faced.

"hey, Jane," I said as I secured Rose's braid and she took off to her toys. Jane waved at me as she pulled out a chair and sat down.

"I just… I can't lose him again," she said pathetically.

I patted her on the back. "He'll come back, Jane. He will. You'll see." I realized I was consoling myself just as much as I was her.

She buried her face in her hands. "God. I'm so sorry, Veronica. I feel so pathetic right now. I hate it."

"I know what you mean," I said softly.

"Veronica?" she began her next statement, but she was soon cut off by a deafening siren that sent Rose running back to me, a Barbie doll in her hand. The power blinked out and a red emergency light took its place.

In a matter of seconds after, an explosion shook the entire building.

I grabbed Rose and shielded her from the dust that came loose from the ceiling. She let out a little cry. Jane had grabbed a pistol from the weapons table and was loading it already. Wow. Way to come back, Jane.

I readied my own pistol as I inched towards the door. Another boom shook the lower levels of the tower.

"Stay close, Rosie," I said as I took her hand in my own. She toddled after me and Jane brought up the rear. "We need to get to Fury and the others," I said to Jane. She nodded, eyes wide with fear. I tried desperately to stuff my own down deep into my brain. I couldn't afford to be afraid right now.

We inched down the hall to the communications room. I buzzed Fury, Hawkeye, and Tony. Bruce was already in the meeting room by the looks of the map along with Coulson. "We need to get there," I said, indicating the meeting room.

We inched farther down the hall, ears pricked for any sound. Another boom shook the lower levels. We reached the meeting room, and were relieved to find the others already there. The red-lights cast everyone in an eerie glow and I struggled to keep the memories of Oberon pursuing me through these very hallways at bay.

"We need a plan of action. Now," Fury said quickly. "What happened in Europe is happening now. The Brotherhood have infiltrated the premises. We have them locked in the lower levels for now, but it won't keep for long. They Cannot Take This Tower." He annunciated each word with care, as if to add onto the emphasis of how important it was we didn't fall. I think we all got it, even without the affect.

Hawkeye piped up. "I'll get to a sniper point. We need to get the little one out before anything else." He nodded to Rose.

Fury nodded. "Agreed, Barton. Coulson? Get Rose out of here to safety stat. Miss Foster, you'll need to go with them too." Jane looked as though she were going to protest, but bit her tongue when Fury gave her the eyeball. "As for you, Parker, get to the higher levels and see what you can do with the electricity. If you can get it up and running the security system will kick back in and at least hinder this mob. Stark? You're coming with me. I need someone to upset Doctor Banner."

"I'm touched that you thought of me," Stark said sarcastically as he reached for the glove that contained his suit. The communicators were passed around and I secured mine into my ear.

"You two will take the frontlines," Fury said as he spoke to Bruce and Tony. " Permission to kill hostiles is granted. They cannot get to Mystique. Is that clear?"

Tony gave a little half-hearted salute. Jane and Rose were escorted out by Coulson. Rose reached for me, not understanding completely, but she was out of sight before I knew much else.

Tony and Fury took off, with Bruce in trail. Taking a deep breath, I loaded my pistol and followed them. I broke off from the group to head to the top level when they went down and I went up.

I reached the top of the stairs, out of breath. I lunged down the hall to the security mother board. Before I could reach the keys, however, I felt a cool breeze tossle my hair and a chilling voice say my name.

I kept moving, rounding a corner… and stopping dead when I saw him standing at the end of the hallway, a smirk on that terrifyingly beautiful face and arms crossed triumphantly. He was spinning the key to the control room on his right index finger.

He was right next to me in a matter of seconds. Had he always been that fast? I felt his cool breath brush my shoulders, and I brushed past him, snatching the keys from the lazy position he had had them in and running for the door.

Before I could get more than three steps away, however, he grabbed my shoulder.

"Freeze," that was all he said, his hand on my shoulder, and my feet became part of the floor. My breathing quickened as he walked up to me. that was all he had said, yet his eyes made me afraid. Would he hurt me? I struggled a bit more to free myself. I heard him chuckle as he came around to face me. "You have obviously not experienced my full power, Love."

My heart beat violently against my chest as his cool finger traced my jaw. But what I saw next threatened to stop my heart in its tracks.

Because over Loki's shoulder, I could easily make out the image of my daughter, standing in the doorway, fear stamped all over her little face.

* * *

><p><strong>Please Review! i need some feedback :D <strong>

**It'll make this cliffhanger end faster too ;) **


	15. Chapter 15

-Loki-

Veronica's pulse quickened as Loki leaned into her. He loved this feeling of utter control. But he could tell that even though resistance was futile, she was fighting him.

He thought it a supremely fitting idea that this woman be the mother of his child, the child that would enslave the human race to his will. After Magneto had spoken with Loki about Rose and the machine, Loki had decided to take matters into his own hands.

He wanted his daughter to be the one to crush the humans. Then she would be the rightful heir not only by blood, but by actions as well, to his throne. All that was needed now was the baby. But where was she?

He heard light footsteps behind him, those of a child… but could Rose walk by now? It had only been a month or two since he had seen her. But the look on Veronica's face as she glanced over his shoulder said it all.

Turning his thoughts back to Veronica, he put a new plan into action.

~Veronica~

"Always on the move," he whispered as he brought a hand to my waist. "But that can be easily fixed as I have just proven."

Utter panic filled me as I felt the enchantment take an even firmer hold of my body. My feet felt as though they were part of the floor. His icy breath brushed my cheek. I was afraid now. Rose was still standing in the doorway, unmoving, petrified with fear. Loki hadn't seen her… or so I thought.

"Let me go," I said. It was a statement. I was not about to beg.

"I quite like this better," he whispered. Another boom shook the floor.

"Why?" I asked, even to my own ears, my voice sounded pathetic.

Loki let out a laugh. "It must be done, my darling," his fingers cupped my chin, but I reared back to escape his grasp. Even if my feet wouldn't move, I could keep his hands off of me. Anger flickered in his gaze as he took my chin roughly in his hands again. "Look at me," he commanded. I closed my eyes, biting my lower lip to keep the tears at bay. Couldn't the end just be here already? Why did he feel the need to toy with me like this?

I felt my mind being taken over as I felt my eyelids open and my gaze meet his. I was still able to give him a dirty look though. That only seemed to amuse him. What I said next, on the other hand, did not amuse him. "Whatever you say, Little Prince," I sneered the words, making sure the sarcasm stuck.

At my smart remark, I felt myself being struck and then a moment of free fall before I landed against the wall. Loki was upon me in an instant, propping me up against the wall and forcing me into it by holding his forearm against my throat. I was trapped. Trapped looking into the gaze of the man I had loved, the man who I had shared a bed with and had his child. Now I was here looking into the depths of cruel green eyes that I had never seen.

"Loki let me go," I whimpered. My back hurt and I was growing weak from the blow I had sustained.

He smirked again as he released me and slipped his hand down to my wrist. "Come with me," he breathed in my ear. He HAD to be kidding. There was no way I was going to follow the man that had just slung me into a wall. I shuddered when I felt his lips graze my ear lobe.

"No," I said, finding the little strength I had left. His grip on my wrist tightened… and started pulling me into him. My chest was crushed against his and I let out a gasp of pain. Something cracked along my rib cage when he pushed me against the wall again, lips dangerously close to my own. "Loki, you- ouch!- you're hurting me!" And he was.

I looked over Loki's shoulder to the little girl in the doorway. Rose stood there, blue eyes wide with fear to see me being abused in such a way. I was able to get the message across to her to get out of here.

"Leaving so soon, Sonja Rose?" Loki's voice saying her name stopped the little girl in her tracks. He didn't even turn around, but kept eye contact with me. She looked at him for a moment before looking back to me.

"Mommy, who is this strange man?" That had been her first full grammatically-correct sentence. How ironic that it should be referring to Loki.

"Rosie, go find Coulson. I'll be fine."

Rose shook her head, never taking her eyes off of Loki.

Loki turned to her. "This- this is… her?" he said it fragilely, like it would hurt him to know the truth.

I didn't need to answer for him to understand. He let me go and I fell to the ground. "Run, Rose!" I shouted as Loki turned away from me and began to walk towards her. Her white 'Coulson's Minion' shirt stood out in the red emergency lights.

He was just about to reach her when all of the sudden POP! She vanished into thin air. At first, I thought Loki had done something, but i was proved wrong by his look of utter confusion. Loki looked at the spot she had been standing in, stunned. "Where is she?"

I didn't answer. I just kept inching away from him, using my elbows to edge away. He advanced on me again, picking me up by the lapels of my coat… and threw me across the room once more.

The floor squeaked as I skidded across it. I let out a groan as my cracked ribs protested… a groan that seemed to please him more than what I could have told him about the whereabouts of Rose. But when he saw that I wasn't getting up, his face softened and fear surfaced in his eyes.

He touched my face gingerly, sweeping my hair back behind my neck. He helped me to my feet. "Veronica. Forgive me. I did not mean-"

I snorted as I regained my footing and stepped away from him, knocking his hands off. "Don't touch me! Of course you did," was all I could sputter out. I groped blindly for any electrical power I could find. A-ha. I found a little wisp from the emergency lights just as he reached for me… and shot it straight into his torso, knocking him to the ground a few feet away from me.

I staggered over to him, amplifying the ball of energy I now held in my hand. "Now, you listen to me." I placed a booted foot on his chest to keep him down. "You call off this attack, leave SHIELD now, and never come back. Rose does not need your bullshit any more than I do. "

Was that a smirk playing along those lips of his? "You look sexy in this light, Love," was all he said before I punched him with a fistful of electrical energy and knocked him out cold.

ooOOoo

I got the power back up in a matter of minutes. I staggered back down the stairway to find Rose. No matter where I looked, though, I couldn't find her… or anyone else for that matter.

I kept moving down the hallway and back to the meeting room. No one was there. "Coulson? Pick up. Where are you?"

Static answered me on the other line as the floor shook beneath me. I stumbled into the table. Somewhere in the lower levels, I could hear the roar of the Hulk. Well, at least Bruce was okay. That probably meant Tony was too. But if Loki was here… that might not last for much longer. I should have killed him upstairs… only I hadn't.

I kept moving, keeping a pistol at the ready. At least the lighting was better. That meant I could see who was who more easily. "Hawkeye? What do ya got?"

I let out a sigh of relief when the archer spoke up. "Well. It's not pretty, but Stark and Banner have them pretty well contained. Looks like you got the power back up."

"Yeah. But Loki decided to make an appearance. I'm pretty badly injured. I think a few ribs are broken." _Not to mention my heart._ I added in my head.

"Stupid son of a bitch. You're alright, though?"

"I think. You haven't seen Coulson or Jane by any chance, have you? Because Rose kind of showed up in the middle of the fight with Loki… I'm hoping they're alright."

The archer's end of the line was quiet for a moment. "I haven't seen them. Where's Rose?"

"She may of-well- kind of disappeared?" I was still trying to figure that part out. Where had she gone?

"Disappeared? Like magic? Poof?" I could hear the string of his bow recoil as he let an explosive arrow loose. I only knew it was explosive because moments after I heard the string, an explosion shook the building again.

"Yeah. Poof." My voice was numb, but my heart pounded heavier as two short figures appeared around the corner ahead.

"Don't shoot!" Coulson's voice came from the one in the front.

"Found Jane and Coulson," I murmured into the communicator. I didn't hear Barton's reply as the two came up to me. I noticed Rose was with them, being lugged by Jane, piggy-back style. "You found her!" I exclaimed, but it was little more than a whisper. My ribs were really starting to hurt.

Rose scrambled off of Jane's back and ran directly into my legs, latching on. Her body was cold. I lifted her chin up to make eye contact. "Rose. How did you do that?"

The little girl shrugged. "Mommy, you told me to run. I was scared." Then she turned to Coulson and latched onto his hand. The poor guy stood there awkwardly. "But I found Mr. Coulson," she said with a grin on her face as if she had found the major prize in a scavenger hunt.

Coulson looked like he wanted to facepalm.

-Loki-

When Loki woke up, he was startled to find that he was no longer in the red hallway. The power was back on and the fluorescent lights messed with his head. Damn that woman. His head spun as he tried to sit up. He hadn't felt electricity of that magnitude in a long while. Her anger at him must have had something to do with it.

He summoned enough energy and magic to transport himself back to Magneto. Along the way, he caught glimpses of that Stark bastard and the Hulk fighting his army off. He inhaled angrily, but it came out as more of a hiss on the exhale as he pushed forward.

He reappeared in Magneto's headquarters. His job had been to take Rose away from Veronica. He had failed. This would not happen again.

As he lay his head down gingerly on the pillow, he promised himself that one thing.

Mystique would be freed by morning. This attack had been only a distraction. The Avengers, now divided and confused, would be focusing all their attentions on beating the mutant forces, thinking that they were winning when they were really only setting the stage for their own demise. This was merely a taste of what Magneto's forces were capable of.

Soon, America would fall, just as Europe had.

And soon, Loki would be with his wife and child again, whether they wanted it or no. Rose would play a part in the master plan and Veronica would follow.

The last thing that brushed through his thoughts as sleep took him was Veronica's face.

* * *

><p><strong>Please Review! :D <strong>


	16. Chapter 16

~Veronica~

After a lot of trying, Coulson had been able to get Rose and Jane into a helicopter on the landing pad on top of Avenger's tower. I watched the three take off, headed for God knew where. All I knew was that they were safe. I would just have to take comfort in that.

I turned back around to look over the top of the tower. Below me, the battle raged on. A few stories down, Hawkeye was in a sniper balcony. But something still didn't feel right… this was entirely too easy, and I knew that forces this size most definitely would not have been able to stand up to the European forces of SHIELD. This was too easy.

"Hey, uh, Hawkeye? Tony?" I said through the communicator.

Tony answered first. "What's up, Sunshine? You know, you really are missing all the fun."

"Well-"

"You'd think these wouldn't a messed with European SHIELD. But, you know, it doesn't surprise me, really. France isn't exactly known for keeping people out. In fact, want to know the most common French saying?"

"Tony-"

"I don't know! I give up!" Hawkeye's voice came through the communicator in response to Tony's joke. I heard Tony let loose a snort at his self-found humor and a barrage of bullets was sent from his suit towards the enemy.

"I mean seriously. This is too easy! Wasn't your boyfriend supposed to be more of a badass? And this is all he could come up with?" Tony said.

"Tony."

"Sheesh, Stark," Hawkeye's voice came through the communicator, but I could tell he had been laughing too. "Let her talk."

Boys. I rolled my eyes. "Who's guarding Mystique?" I asked.

Silence.

Tony's voice came through the communicator hesitantly. "Hawkeye, why don't you go down and check with Veronica to make sure."

I could hear Barton let out a breath of irritation, but a few seconds later he came through with a "Whatever."

"I'll meet you down there." I said quickly as I spun on my heel and raced to the stairwell. I still didn't trust the elevator or the power.

ooOOoo

The lower levels of SHIELD were darker… and colder. I wrapped my coat around my body as walked down the hallway that led to the high security vaults that housed extremely dangerous criminals. I passed the cell that Loki had been in last year and a few others that I had no idea what they held.

At the end of the hallway, Mystique's cell sat completely untouched. I slid the little peephole open to look at her, and sure enough she was there, lounging on the hard cot and grinning to herself each time the foundations shook from another explosion.

Then her yellow eyes turned to mine.

"Hello," she hissed. Her voice. Something about her voice unsettled me. It reminded me of a lizard… or a snake… "Have they come for me yet?"

"None of your concern," I said quietly. What was she going to do? Escape because I answered a question?

She got up and moved to the opening of the cell. "You must be Veronica… Yes. We have heard a lot about you."

I suddenly felt the need to justify myself. "Look whatever Loki said-"

"It wasn't Loki who told us anything," Mystique hissed quietly. My confusion must have shown on my face because she laughed before she continued. "You are fighting for the very organization that will destroy you. Yet you wander around aimlessly, listening to orders and restraining your powers to do the government's bidding. Have you ever wondered what it felt like to just cut loose?"

At that statement, Mystique's yellow eyes transformed to green ones and the pale face of Loki was looking back at me. I couldn't bring myself to slam the little eyehole shut… He looked so real. Then Mystique turned into a range of the Avengers. Ranging from Steve to Fury to myself. That last one was the freakiest.

The blue-skinned woman was back in an instant, yellow eyes burning into mine. "You see? People like you and I don't belong in a cage. You want to know how I know about you? I know about you because SHIELD has been keeping tabs on you and your daughter since her birth. Your daughter has been targeted as SHIELD's number one concern for the future. Your husband can see this and has taken the necessary actions to keep her safe, yet you traipse around here like you are too important to be brought down to our level. You are an Uncle Tom to the system."

"Shut up," I said as I slammed the eyehole closed. I looked around, wondering where the guards were. I looked left, then right… and held as tightly as I could to consciousness as the wall of the foundation to my left blasted inward.

My cracked ribs felt like they were on fire as the rubble settled around me. I could make out a tall figure walking towards Mystique's cell… and he was wearing a ridiculous helmet and cape.

I shook the stars from my eyes and brushed my hair back from my face as I forced myself to stand. Stupid hair. It was so long now it reached to my lower back. I had kept it that way for Loki and hadn't had the heart to cut it. That would be the first thing I did when this was over.

I summoned a bit of electricity as the old man that had come through the wall began a strange movement with his hands. It almost looked like he was trying to be a wizard or something… until the metal door of Mystique's cell began to crinkly like a piece of paper.

I couldn't let her get out. In a swift movement, I flung the electricity at the man, knocking him back a bit, but not wounding him in the slightest.

He turned to me. "And what do we have here?" he asked. His voice was old, but it did nothing to mask the lethality that was radiating from him. I steadied myself, ignoring Mystique's laughter from the cell behind him.

"Veronica Parker," I stated clearly. "You must be Magneto."

He clapped his hands together in a very grandfatherly fashion. "Ah. Well I must say it is a pleasure, Mrs. Laufeyson."

I cringed. "Wish I could say the same." I had no idea where this boldness was coming from, but sooner or later it was going to get me killed. My bad manners didn't seem to affect Magneto one bit.

He smiled slightly. "We have heard much about-"

"Yeah. Your friend in there pretty much summed it up," I said, slipping into a defensive stance.

He raised his eyebrows. "I would have thought you would be more… well, more angered at SHIELD. Seeing how they treated you so unjustly. And that is not necessary, Mrs. Laufeyson." He indicated my fighting stance. "I have no intention of killing you."

It was my turn to raise my eyebrows. "Then you are going to have a hard time getting your girlfriend outa here. Because I am not budging."

Magneto let out a sigh. "We try _very _hard not to harm our own, My Dear. We mutants were meant to join together, not murder each other. It is the humans that wish to kill us."

I tried to contain my laughter at the absurdity of his statement as I slung a bit of electrical energy at Magneto. In a flash, he stuck a hand out to the bolt, absorbing the energy and sending it out through his other hand. It was his turn to laugh. "Metal, My Dear, is a fine conductor of electricity. Did you not know?"

Stupid me sent another bolt at him, but this time he redirected it towards me. I felt the white hot energy hit me in the stomach and I fell to the ground again, slumping against the wall. I sat there dazed, watching as Magneto crumpled the remainder of the cell door and tossed it away like a rag in the air.

I jumped slightly when Magneto dropped a cream colored piece of paper into my lap. "Mr. Laufeyson sends his regards," Magneto said as he and Mystique walked back through the metal opening… I heard the obstruction reclose, but I didn't really come to until I felt Hawkeye shaking my shoulder.

"Veronica! Get up. You alright?" All that escaped my lips was a gargling sound. My hand crumpled around the paper as I felt Hawkeye's arm latch securely around my waist and hoist me up. Everything was stretched and distorted as he walked me towards the elevator. "We drove the army back," he said as he propped me against the cool wall of the elevator, letting me sit as we went back to the meeting room.

I tried to speak, tried to tell him that it was no use because Mystique was gone, but words would not come. When Magneto had left the walls of SHIELD, he had ensured that there was no evidence of his break-in.

Hawkeye helped me through the doors, down the hall, and into my room. He ended up carrying me into the bedroom, laying me down and putting a cold cloth on my head. (I would later find out that one of the nurses had been telling him what to do through his communicator, but it was a nice notion nonetheless). I continued to stare straight ahead. Maybe I was going into shock?

I barely registered when Tony came in. "Yo. Sunshine. They say if you don't respond soon we're gonna have to strip you down and throw you into a tub of hot water."

At the mention of stripping me down, I snapped right out of the shock I was in. "No way in hell will you ever see that, Tony Stark."

I heard him chuckle as he turned to Hawkeye. "Told ya it'd work," he whispered. Barton rolled his eyes.

"We'll give you some privacy," he said. "We just wanted to make sure you weren't dead."

I gave him a half-hearted smile. "Th- thanks." I managed. I suddenly realized my lips were parched. As the two left, i felt my hand reflexively tighten around the now crumpled piece of paper in my right hand. I looked down at it dumbly before I brought it up to read Loki's flowing script.

"_From this moment, the very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand"_

What the hell was it with Loki and quoting Shakespeare? And why on earth did he have to find passages that matched our relationships so perfectly? First it had been Hamlet now Macbeth?

I took this as a warning. Loki was prepared to do anything. _Well,_ I thought to myself as I slipped under the covers of my bed. _So was I. Anything to protect this world and the child that we had brought into it. _

**Yup. The Shakespeare quotes are back, guys. Couldn't resist ;) Please review! **


	17. Chapter 17

~Veronica~

When I woke up, the sun was high in the sky. My ribs felt better, but I was still sore. I kept my eyes closed, taking in the sounds of the other Avengers moving around in the common room before I got up.

"Dude, I'm telling ya. This one guy had to of been _this big_!" I could imagine Tony holding his hands up to portray the size of one of the mutants that they had fought.

"Sheesh, Stark. I would say he was smaller than that and you STILL needed Bruce's help to take him down." Hawkeye's smart ass comment was probably driving the billionaire through the roof.

I heard Steve's voice coming from the other room now. The others must have high-tailed it back when they had gotten word of the attack. I wondered if they had even gotten to England.

But then I remembered what Mystique had said to me about Rose. My eyes snapped open as I realized that Loki had used almost those exact same words when we had spoken last. There was no way…

I would just have to figure it out for myself. I knew where the documents on the Avengers were kept: somewhere in the lower levels of SHIELD. If I could just get to those, I could see for myself what Fury had done to Rose… if he had done anything at all. I felt guilty for even wondering if my boss would do such a thing.

I slung the covers off of my body and dressed quickly in an old hoodie and jeans. I pulled on my sneakers and walked out into the common room, not bothering to look in a mirror. I looked left, then right. Sure enough the other Avengers were back.

Natasha sat propped against the counter, arms crossed while Barton attempted to flirt with her. She did not look amused. Tony was bent over some sort of contraption with Bruce while Steve and Thor talked through last night's battle footage on the security cameras, probably sizing up the opposing army. Jane was nestled into Thor's body in a hug that probably would have crushed a normal person's rib cage. So that meant Rose and Coulson were back too…

I wanted to find Rose before I did anything else. I planned on sneaking into the lower vaults to read through any tests performed on her later on after hours, so I had some time to get in to see her.

"Look who's alive after all," Tony's voice carried over from the table he was sitting at and I felt everyone's eyes turn to look at me. So much for a quick escape…I gave a little wave in acknowledgment and kept moving.

"Hey, not so fast," Steve said. "We need to know some stuff like, I don't know, why you were in a mini-coma last night when Barton found you for starters."

I turned my full gaze to the captain, my eyes flashing a bit. "Magneto broke in to let Mystique loose. I'm sure you all know that by now." There was a solemn nod of agreement around the room. "Well, we fought" If you could call me getting my ass kicked with my own powers fighting- "and I lost. Pretty sure that sums it up." I didn't know why I was being so short. Maybe the fact that I could be in a room full of people that wanted to run tests on my baby was the reason.

I turned back to walk out in the hallway, ignoring the jabs from Tony wondering if it was and I quote "my time of the month." I rolled my eyes and kept walking.

A few minutes later, I heard a peel of Rose's laughter come from the lounge… and… Barbie princess music?

"No, Mr. Coulson! That's not how Prince Charming dances!" I could hear the irritation in her little voice. Was that how I sounded when I was annoyed? I could practically see her stomping her little foot.

I inched towards the doorway, keeping myself hidden… and trying hard not to laugh out loud when I saw the scene before me.

Phil Coulson, in full suit and tie, had a paper crown on his head. Rose had a tutu of sorts on and was holding his hand making him twirl her around while the little man stood there awkwardly. I decided to put him out of his misery and walk in to see my baby.

"Having fun?" I said from the doorway. At the sight of me, Coulson ripped the crown from his head.

"No! Mr. Coulson!" Rose whined. "You have to keep it on!" she stared up at him with big blue eyes, holding it up.

"Rosie, let's let Mr. Coulson take a break. Even princes need rest sometimes." Rose gnawed on her lip, hands clasped behind her back as she decided if she was going to argue.

"Fine." She said quietly. "But first you have to bow, Mr. Coulson!" then she whispered to me, hiding her mouth with her little hand as she did so, "That's what princes do when they say good bye to ladies."

_ Yeah, or they could throw them across the room and break a couple of ribs trying to get what they wanted…_

Nonetheless, I smiled down at her as she made- I kid thee not- Phil Coulson bow awkwardly by lowering his head to her. She put the crown on his balding head before he could bring it back up.

As he walked out of the room, I could hear paper rustling as he took it off when he was out of sight. On winged feet, my daughter ran to the doorway and yelled after him. "Mr. Coulson! Put it back on! You can't be a prince without a crown!"

She came back into the room, satisfied, and nestled into my lap. "Mommy, they said you were hurt."

It was my turn to decide how to respond. "I was, but I'm all better now." I tried not to show the pain her moving around in my lap caused to my ribs.

I heard her intake a little breath as she remembered something. "Want to see my drawings?" she asked me, blue eyes wide and serious.

I smiled. "Of course, sweetie."

She scrambled down from my lap and all but flew over to the coffee table in the center of the room. She shifted through the stack of papers and crayons before she found the ones she wanted.

The first few were pretty generic: Rainbows, flowers, horses. But the last one, though it was a typical drawing for a young girl, unnerved me.

Because looking out of the paper was the unmistakable image of Rose, myself, and Loki standing together in a family portrait.

"This one's my favorite," her little voice whispered.

I was terrified. "How- who is this?" I asked as I pointed to Loki's stick figure form.

"Daddy. He says I'm gonna be a princess one day. And you'll be the queen! Isn't that wonderful, Mommy!"

"Where did you get an idea like that, Rosie?"

The little girl knocked her curls from her eyes, deliberating. "Well, I had a dream last night. And this man said he was my daddy! And he's going to make me a princess and…" She continued on in a monologue that would probably have made a typical mother roll her eyes and dismiss it. I, however, was not a typical mother.

"Rosie," I said after she was done. "If you meet this man again, I want you to stay away from him, sweetling. He's not… he's not a nice prince like Mr. Coulson."

She laughed at me. "Silly Mommy. Daddy's not a prince. He's a KING!" she emphasized the last word, eyes wide and arms spread in the air.

ooOOoo

I was convinced that the Restricted Section of Hogwart's library had nothing on the archives in SHIELD headquarters.

The hallways of SHIELD's high security vaults spread out in front of me. I was a floor above the prison cells I had come from last night. Somehow, the information system didn't feel any different. I walked through the file system shelves, going down the rows alphabetically. A, B, C…

I stopped when I came upon L for Laufeyson.

I shifted through the contents of one of the drawers until my finger lighted on Loki's (or Hostile 23's) file. Since we were supposedly married, my file was directly behind his so I pulled it out as well. A small noise came from behind me and I froze. I technically wasn't supposed to be down here. Hell, I didn't even know if I had clearance to know about these files…

I yanked the files out quickly before slipping into an empty cubicle in the far corner of the room. At least here it wouldn't be quite as obvious if someone happened to look down here.

I read through the preliminaries of Loki's file. All the basic stuff, really, nothing I didn't already know.

_**Name: Loki Laufeyson (Hostile 23) **_

_** Status: Public Enemy 2011-2012, inactive 2012-2013, active 2013- present **_

_** God of Mischief and Lies. Height: 6'0" … **_

There was nothing in his file that served my purpose. I set everything back into it like I had found it and slipped it quickly back into the drawer it came from. Then I turned to my file.

_**Name: Veronica Parker**_

_** Status: ACTIVE 2012-present,**_

_**Avenger, demi-god. Height: 5'9", weight: 130lbs…**_

It went on to describe me to a tee ranging from my first encounters with SHIELD back in New Mexico (stalkers) to… Aha! My baby's birth. In the back of my file, a sheet of paper was clipped with Rose's name on it.

_**Name: Sonja Rose Laufeyson**_

_** Status: Unknown**_

That was all there was for Rose. No blood tests, no incriminating things against Fury or SHIELD. I had been stupid to even believe the Brotherhood.

I don't know what made me do it, but I flipped the piece of paper over… and nearly dropped dead when I saw what it said.

_**Further files on record available to level ten clearance only. **_

The only person I knew of at SHIELD who had level ten clearance was Director Nick Fury.

ooOOoo

I walked swiftly down the corridors of SHIELD, Rose's piece of paper of a file firmly in hand. When I got back to the meeting room, Fury was briefing Rogers on several new ideas to win back Europe from Loki's and Magneto's clutches.

I'm not sure what came over me just then, but anger boiled up inside me at the sight of the man, thinking he was such a badass, smug expression in place as he spoke to Rogers about battle plans. What other _plans_ did he have for the Avengers? I wanted to spit fire.

I should have walked past the door. Every bone in my body was screaming at me to keep walking. But my anger outweighed my mind and I turned on my heel quickly to go back into the room.

Steve and Rogers were the only two in there, so when I opened the door, Fury gave me the evil eye. "Parker. This is a private meeting," Steve's voice was kind as he said it, but it did nothing to ease my anger at Fury.

I kept walking into the room, my blue eyes flashing dangerously. When I plopped Rose's file down on the table, Fury looked at it for a moment, then back at me. I could practically see the wheels cranking in his head as he deliberated what to do.

"And it's now in session, Captain," I said lethally. "I'm sorry but you're going to have to go."

Steve looked from me to Fury, begging for orders, any inkling of an idea of what to do.

"Thank you, Captain," Fury said coolly. "We will finish discussing these plans at a later time."

Steve nodded and walked out, keeping an eye on the two of us as he did before he shut the door completely, sealing Fury and me in for our own little meeting.

* * *

><p><strong>Uh-oh, what'll Veronica do now? ;) <strong>

**So, I know I have been really good about updating this past week, but I was on break. These next few weeks are going to be grueling for me as far as school, so I can't promise how frequent I will be with this story. **

**Honestly, though, this is not a threat in the least. I will NEED support for it to get me through this next month. I know it sounds needy, but… yeah. Please tell me what you think! The more reviews I get, the more likely I am to make time to write :D Reviews make me happy inside... so yeah. **

**Thanks you guys! **

**~Sirius **


	18. Chapter 18

**Don't own Marvel...**

* * *

><p>"<em>Something wicked this way comes." <em>

_~Macbeth Act IV, scene 1_

* * *

><p>~Veronica~<p>

"Fury, I want to know the truth," I said quietly. "Tell me what SHIELD did to my baby at the time of her birth."

Fury kept his arms clasped behind his back. He still had not said a word to me since I came in here. His eye looked back up to me. "What I want to know, Parker, is how you got this-"

"Don't give me that bullshit, Director Fury. Not when it comes to this. This is an invasion of my privacy! It violates my constitutional rights!"

"It was for the greater good, Parker. Whether you like it or not, you got yourself knocked up – don't give me that look because that is exactly what happened and you know it- by a known enemy of humanity with extraordinary magical abilities. Surely you would not think that I could let that slide. We needed to know what threat your daughter could pose-"

"Threat? You think she will harm humanity? Fury, she may be Loki's daughter, but she's mine too. When have you ever known me to go against earth?" As my voice rose, I felt the hairs on the back of my arms stand up and static emanate from my body. The lights flickered in the meeting room and I could have sworn I felt the floor shake from the currents I was unconsciously pulling.

Fury just looked at me as what I said sunk in. That's right. I had harmed humanity in the beginning. The day I ever met Loki it had been too late for me… Even if I wasn't physically going against SHIELD, I had always loved him. But it didn't help to hear Fury voice this to me.

"Let me see the files," I said. It was a demand, not a question.

"You aren't cleared-"

"I have a right to know. She's my daughter," my voice was calmer now, but it was still angry. When he didn't respond, I continued. "Mystique knows. The brotherhood infiltrated SHIELD long before you knew of their existence. So really, why won't you just tell me?"

Fury inhaled, exhaled. I waited, arms crossed, the glare in my eyes never waivering to match the one he was giving me. "Done," he said after he lost the staring match. "But you didn't get this from me." He strode out of the room. "Are you coming?" I heard him ask. I rolled my eyes as I turned on my heel to follow him.

ooOOoo

I had always known Rose was special. In fact, from the moment she was born there had been something supernatural about her. I had expected the change in her skin color when she was around Loki. I had expected her magical abilities since she was the daughter of a sorcerer. Hell, I had even expected her to grow up quickly. What I hadn't expected was what Fury showed me when I followed him into one of SHIELD's labs.

Rose was powerful. Not just in a typical Avenger or God way. She was going to be one of the most unique creatures on the earth. All because of her parents.

Fury explained to me as I looked over the charts that because I possessed part of Thor's powers in a Midgardian body I was technically a demi-god. I already knew that, but continued to listen to him as he explained.

"When your child was conceived, some of Loki's magical abilities were engrained in her DNA. We have noticed in our research with Charles Xavier that the mutant line is passed directly from mother to child. The father does not typically donate to the mutant genotype. But your child- even at birth- phenotypically showed the power of both yourself and Loki."

I nodded. "But why is she not demonstrating my powers now?" She had leaned more towards Loki's as she grew older.

Fury shrugged. "That we aren't sure. But we do know that a child of this ability will be a sure target for Magneto and his kin." _Yeah, or research experiments done by SHIELD. _

"Why wasn't I informed of this earlier?"

Fury kind of looked at me for a second before answering. He was obviously trying to figure out what to tell me. I kept eye contact, waiting. "As I said, it was classified. We needed to monitor her and, quite frankly, your intentions were still unclear."

I wrinkled my brow. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Think about it, Parker. You were married to a villain. As far as we knew, you had turned your back on SHIELD." He was lying. I could see it in his eye. Somewhere in my gut I _knew_ that SHIELD had had other plans for my daughter. But now that I knew what had been done to her, I let it slide. I still needed a job, and as long as I was with her, nothing could be done without my knowledge, right?

I bit my lip as Fury plowed on in his attempt to confuse me by talking in circles.

It didn't work. I now knew I had enemies on both sides of this war.

ooOOoo

Rose woke up screaming that night, very similar to how I had done countless times. I rushed over to her bed, trying to comfort her as her little heart hammered against her rib cage.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" I asked as I stroked her hair.

"They- They're coming, mommy."

"Who? It was just a dream-"

"No!" she shook her head violently as she pulled away from me to meet my eyes. "Daddy's coming… with an army! He told me so."

Now I was scared. "When?" The boom in the lower levels of SHIELD was enough to tell me without Rose saying a word. The army was here. Now. "Sweetheart, we need to go. Now. Get dressed." Rose nodded, eyes wide. I slipped quickly into my battle uniform… but instead of going for my assortment of knives I grabbed a burlap duffel bag and proceeded to throw an assortment of supplies into it.

I gave the bag to Rose to put on her back. There was a first aid kit, enough food for a few days, and water bottles. "Keep this with you. No matter what. If things go bad we are getting out before they get worse."

Rose looked up at me, wide-eyed. But she nodded as she climbed up onto my back. She latched on perfectly, making herself into a little backpack. I loaded my pistols and strapped them to my thighs.

"We'll head down to the meeting room first, sweetie." I felt her nod as she buried her face in my neck and it took off down the hallway. Another boom shook the floor.

When we got to the meeting room, I could only make out Natasha and Hawkeye preparing weapons. "Grab a gun, Clint," Natasha was saying to a frazzled-looking Hawkeye. Hawkeye stopped in his tracks to gape at her, holding his retractable bow up. Natasha shook her head in irritation. "Never mind," she said as she loaded her own pistol. "Oh. Hey, V. Glad you decided to join us."

I tried very hard not to roll my eyes. "Where are the others?"

"Already downstairs fighting," Hawkeye spoke up as he adjusted the sights on his bow. "Lucky they were ready. This is worse than what we encountered a few days ago."

Somehow I knew this would happen… I set Rose down on the ground lightly… before I noticed the flash of yellow in Hawkeye's irises.

Out of nowhere, Mystique appeared and slammed Natasha against the wall. The agent fell to the ground, unconscious, before the mutant turned to me. "What can I say? I didn't want to stay away too long."

I took a step backwards, scooting a terrified Rose behind me as I pulled a pistol with my free hand. I trained it on the blue woman in front of me. She stopped walking then, looking at me with those alien eyes. But she was still smiling… Why was she still smiling?

I felt the gun shoot from my hand and into the mutant's as I realized she had not been smiling at me, but at whoever was behind me. I turned around to face Magneto… but what I got instead was Loki.

"Daddy?" Rose said quietly.

Loki's eyes tore from mine to hers when she spoke. "Hello, my blossom," he said to her. "I have come to make you a princess now. Like I promised, do you remember?"

I could feel Rose shake her head. "Mommy said that was a lie." Loki looked back at me, a scowl on his face.

"Well, it was not," he spoke directly to me. I slipped my hand into my leather jacket's pocket, coming up empty as far as a blade went. "Perhaps 'Mommy' is the one that has been lying. And 'Mommy' knows what comes of that, doesn't she?" Somehow, I knew he was talking directly to me. My fingers closed around a piece of paper in the pocket of my coat. I grasped it quickly, keeping my hand in my pocket.

I kept eye contact with my husband, not daring to look away. I kept a hand at Rose's back to steady her and remind her I was here. I heard Natasha stir slightly, but she didn't get up. If Mystique could take her down… I shuddered to think of what Mystique would do to me…

I didn't have long to stand there, though, because just as Loki walked up to the two of us, an explosion sounded just over our head, bringing one of the ceiling beams down in between me and Mystique. I knocked Rose backwards just in time, shielding her with my body.

I whipped the piece of paper from my pocket, realizing it was Xavier's calling card. I backed Rose up into the corner as more rubble came down in waves around us. The building wouldn't hold much longer…

I showed the card to Rose. "Can you teleport the two of us here, Rosie? Poof?"

She seemed to understand what I meant, eyes growing even wider as she looked from me to the paper. She nodded as even more rubble came down around us, clouding my vision until I felt a blow in the back of my head from another support beam coming down. There was a ringing in my ears, the feeling of Rose's hand in my own, and then nothing.

-Loki-

Loki's heart nearly stopped as he watched his wife being struck over the head and collapsing. He had not felt this panic since he thought he had lost her to Heliviti. He tried to make it over to Rose standing by his wife's side, but was stopped in his tracks as the rest of the ceiling came down, sealing the two off from him and Mystique.

To his left, The Black Widow was coming to. He hardly noticed. He just kept staring through the spot that should have been where his family was. They were gone once again… quite possibly forever this time… because of him.

_Several weeks later:_

Loki looked out from the balcony of his personal quarters back in Europe, taking in the assembly of the mutant army that Magneto had pulled from the edges of the earth. Not an emotion crossed his face. None had since the SHIELD incident. Below him, a squad of armed mutants were herding the remaining humans into work camps. All around the gates, the trained clones of Oberon's hybrids stood guard, blocking off all escape routes.

_How ironic, _Loki thought, _that the man that lost so much to these camps would dare subject others to the horrors of them._ Not that Loki minded. This was yet another necessity along his path to power. All would be well in the end.

After American SHIELD had fallen, Loki's men had captured nearly all of the SHIELD agents. They were in the process of being questioned right now. Most of the Avengers had been caught. The Stark Bastard, for one, had been relatively easy as well as Nick Fury and The Incredible Hulk. His brother Thor, The Black Widow, and Clint Barton had escaped to gods knew where. Loki was unsure of where the scientist Jane Foster or Captain Rogers were as well.

No matter. All of them would be captured soon enough and they would tell him what had become of his family. Despite the screams he had elicited from the captured, he had yet to find out anything regarding his wife and child's whereabouts.

He turned back around to face his corridors. They were quite nice, even he had to admit, for a mortal hall. With a bit of magic, they would live up to his taste most excellently.

Magneto had given Loki most of Western Europe to command along with the frozen wastelands of the Arctic that Loki thrived upon. The land was in his possession now, and the fear… Gods, the fear that he had invoked in these mortals… it was intoxicating. He thrived off of the chaos. The only thing that made him feel more alive was… her…

Veronica had not been seen for several weeks. He was not sure if she was even alive. That last fleeting moment he had seen of her was of the building was falling down around them. She and his daughter could very well be under the rubble still. It was like she had vanished in a puff of smoke. With an irritated sigh, Loki walked through the glass double doors and into his bed chamber. A tall, four poster bed sat in the center of the outer wall of the room, green curtains adorning its mahogany frame. To the left of the bed, a black marble wash stand sat.

A single drop of water began to form in the corner of his left eye and his eyes began to sting. What was this? His long pale fingers reached up quickly to wipe the cold drop away. Surely this was not a … tear…

How very strange. Loki had not wept since his childhood. It was for the weak, the emotional. Not for kings and world rulers. But sure enough… these odd little drops of water had plagued him since that day in America's SHIELD headquarters. They came at unexpected moments, mostly when he was grieving for his family…

_My Love, Where are you? Come back to me, please. _

"My Lord?" One of Loki's mutant guards had stepped inside.

Loki snapped out of his thoughts, regaining composure. "What?"

"Lord Magneto is here and ready to meet with you, My Lord."

Loki repressed the urge to roll his eyes. "Tell him I will be there momentarily."

The young mutant bowed and exited the room.

Loki straightened the collar of his tunic, smoothed his hair in the mirror of the washstand, and took off through the double doors leading to the rest of his palace. Surely the search parties would come back with something. For now he had to focus on other matters.

* * *

><p><strong>YUSSS! Extra long chapter despite the school work I had tonight :D I'm feeling pretty good right about now. Thanks everyone for your support! :D Words can't express how honored I feel that my story is liked.<strong>

**~Sirius **


	19. Chapter 19

**Don't own Marvel**

* * *

><p>"<em>You have set your heart<em>

_on haunting me forever from the start._

_It's never silent. "_

_~Nearly Witches by Panic! At the Disco_

* * *

><p>~Veronica~<p>

Blinding light peeped through my eye lids as I opened them to slits to take in the world around me. I was cold. Really cold. My head throbbed as I opened my eyes further and a snowy canopy of trees stretched across my vision. Where was I? White specks flew into my face. They were cold and they stung a bit. It took me a few more seconds to realize that it was snowing.

"Mommy?"

My eyes snapped open wide as my senses became alert. I turned my head to the side to see Rose, sitting cross legged and barefoot in the snow. Snowflakes stuck to her now shoulder length dark hair and her dark lashes. Her skin was also a strange tinge of blue. Much like Loki's…

"Are you okay, Mommy?" My daughter got up quickly and placed her little hand on my head. Immediately I felt better. Her magical abilities must have done something to help me. Loki had done it countless times… No. I wouldn't think about him just now.

"Yes, sweetheart," I croaked as I propped myself up against the large trunk of one of the pine trees. "Where are we?" Now that I thought about it, I had no idea. I had told Rose to get us to Xavier's school, yet we were in the middle of a forest. She cocked her head to the side as her dark curls fell over her shoulder. She pursed her lips slightly before she spoke, thinking.

"I tried to get us to where you wanted. Honest, I did. But…" her little brow crinkled in confusion. "We came here instead."

But where was here? Surely if Loki had won we were in his territory. How had he not sensed Rose or me? Snow continued to fall. "How long was I asleep?" I asked her.

"Not long," she said as her eyes went wide. "I got a little scared, but I knew you would be okay. You are my mommy after all."

Two days? Dear God… the others! SHIELD! What had become of them? All my memories came rushing back in a flood and I nearly toppled over. Natasha on the ground, the ceiling caving in… all the mutants in the army… There was no way American SHIELD was still running. I was just glad we had gotten out. At least we were safe.

I stood up now, fighting the dizziness in my head and looking out over the landscape. We were on top of a hill and a sea of trees spread over the land until they hit a small pond… and a vast expanse of flat, treeless land that could only be the beginnings of a lawn. Maybe that was it…

But then a blast overhead shook me completely from my dizziness. Airplanes, huge bombers, were passing overhead. I grabbed Rose and threw myself over her, hiding under the cover of the trees.

I felt her trembling as the planes passed over us, deathly close. The snow began to melt where my knees made contact with it and seep through the leather material of my leggings. I was fighting the urge to black out again…

"Mommy, they're gone now." Rose's voice came to me as if from a tunnel as my vision warped in and out of focus. I blinked heavily, fighting the tunnel vision as it came and went.

Rose put a hand to my cheek and I felt better. But then I heard a voice that was not coming from my daughter. "Freeze!"

The voice was male, probably young based on the sound of it. I looked up slowly to see a gun trained in my face, held in position by a young man, probably in his late teens. He had dirty blonde hair, cropped fairly short and really, really blue eyes. His eyes went wide when he saw the SHIELD badge on my chest. "Hey! Storm! Over here." Was he an idiot or what? Surely this place was crawling with Loki's men… if this guy was a good guy at all…

But I heard the voice of Storm call back and the atmosphere changed drastically. She raced over to us. I stayed frozen in place, not wanting to test the boy's trigger-happy level.

Rose's eyes were huge as she kept them locked on the gun… or was she staring at the boy? The next thing I knew I was being hit by lightning… and it wasn't my own. I fell back against the tree we had used for cover. The blast had just been enough to stun me… but if I hadn't been a demi-god I was sure I would have been in a coma.

Rough hands slammed me against the trunk and I tried to figure out what the hell was going on. I saw Rose being propped protectively behind the boy with the gun as Logan slammed me against the tree again.

"Dude, seriously." I gasped as he closed a hand around my throat and a claw extended from the knuckles of his other hand to hover over my right eye. "That fricken hurts."

Panic was rising in my throat as Logan searched my eyes. What the hell was up with this guy?

"Logan," Storm's voice carried over to my ears as I blinked stars out of my eyes. "I think it's her. Mystique couldn't have survived a blast like that."

So they had thought I was Mystique, walking through the woods with Loki's little girl. "Mommy!" Rose slipped out of the boy's grasp and gave Logan a little shock from her fingertips to get him out of the way. She wrapped her arms around my legs.

"Sorry, Veronica," Storm said as she helped support me. "We can't be too careful. Especially now. That's Bobby, by the way." She indicated the boy with the gun. "Or Iceman if you prefer." I limped by her side as she explained everything. "When Loki took over England, we had to move underground with the school. Magneto targeted it directly after he took England."

Rose was following closely behind us, eyes fixed on the back of my head as she clutched the Bobby's hand.

"We have a base set up underground- literally. Just because Loki and Magneto think they have won doesn't mean they have. There are still pockets of resistance- human and mutant- that have formed under their very noses."

At this point we had reached a small, run down shack. Storm helped me through the doors as the others followed. Nothing was inside but a few chairs situated around a table. Both were very ol looking and I would have bet my eye teeth they couldn't even hold Rose's weight.

"Human resistance?" I asked as Logan walked over and started fiddling with something. "You mean-"

"Mostly rural folks and farmers and whatever SHIELD agents could get away. A full-fledged uprising could occur any day. It's just a matter of how much Loki pushes us." Bobby had spoken this time. I bit my lower lip.

"What of the other humans?" I asked quietly. "The ones that were in the cities and in government headquarters?"

"There are work camps located in the city." Storm spoke quietly. "We think that's where they are keeping any hostages."

"And Loki has control of this area?"

Storm nodded as the floor opened up in the far corner and Logan let out a growl about 'stupid technology.' "Let's get you downstairs."

ooOOoo

Stark's bunker didn't have anything on the bunker of the X-men. Even in my woozy state, I could easily make out the metal hallways of the upper levels that gradually gave way to what could only be a rendition of the school. Perfect, hard wood floors and fake windows lit by what were probably expensive lights meant to mirror the sun stretched out in front of us when the elevator doors opened.

"Let's get you two cleaned up," Storm said as she helped us down the hall. "Bobby, if you could get Rose to let go of your hand, that is."

Bobby looked down at Rose before dropping to her level and unhinging her killer grip on his hand. He handed her over to me and we kept walking.

ooOOoo

"Well now," Charles' voice rang across his office as he wheeled over to shake my hand. "If it isn't Veronica Parker. I must say we weren't expecting a visit from the Avengers anytime soon."

I shook the old man's hand and sat down in a chair. "For good reason," I said quickly. "American SHIELD has fallen."

Charles nodded solemnly. "I was afraid of that." He wheeled over behind his desk. "We received massive readings of atmospheric disturbance not long ago. Minutes before your discovery, actually. We were afraid that Loki had finally found our little hiding spot."

"We tried to get to the school, but for some reason Rose was thrown off."

Charles nodded again. "That was a defense mechanism that Loki must have put in place. It keeps all matters of foreign teleportation out. We, however, were able to use it to our advantage. When a power hits the force field - Forgive the rather unorthodox description- an intense signal is emitted. We are able to trace that and find whatever is thrown out. It comes in especially handy for someone in your case as I am sure you can imagine."

I nodded. After Storm had shown Rose and me to a room I had come straight to Charles.

"So what is this I hear about a resistance?" I asked. "Are there any chances that some of the Avengers made it?"

Charles took in a breath, deliberating before he spoke. "There is always a chance, Miss Parker. However I find it very unlikely. Magneto was very swift in his actions against any possible threats."

I sucked in a breath. So none of my friends had shown themselves here. "What is the situation outside?"

"Sheer fear. While pockets of resistance are scattered all across Europe, a majority of the humans are living under intense surveillance twenty four hours a day. It is not a good picture. The main leader of this region is Loki and magical charms and alarms are set up over different areas."

I drew in a breath as I nodded. We finished the meeting as Xavier gave me a recap about the world. In a nutshell, all had gone to Hel. Rose and I had also been in teleportation state for two weeks, not a matter of seconds. Rose's powers were still unsteady in that arena.

Things only went downhill from there.

-Loki-

Loki sat upright in bed as a sound of impact hit him in a wave. Veronica. She was alive. And Rose had used her own magical abilities to teleport. They were on this very continent.

He swung the covers off of his body as he got out of bed and signaled for a guard.

What he got instead was Sabertooth, one of the first mutants he had met. Loki still did not like the mutant, despite the fact that he had cut all of his blonde hair off and looked a lot less like Thor. The mutant flashed his eyes at Loki as he bowed. "My Lord?"

"I have a task for you," Loki said quietly.

Pointed teeth emerged as Victor Creed's lips stretched wide in a smile.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Ok. So I had the HARDEST time writing this chapter! I had no idea how to get it out to set the stage to move the story forward. Sorry if it was slow or unsatisfactory! The next one will be better. I PROMISE! I know exactly where I am going with it too. Expect Action. Lots of Action. ;)<strong>

**Please Review!**

**~Sirius **


	20. Chapter 20

~Veronica~

Snow kept falling along the wooded path I was on. I blinked snowflakes from my eyes. Logan walked several hundred feet to my right as we performed our daily scouting routine.

Throughout the last few days, I had spent a lot of time recuperating in bed. Rose had been whisked away to different classes to help with her powers, leaving me with a lot of downtime. I did not complain one bit. With the knowledge that Magneto and Loki were after Rose as well as myself, extra training had been given to Rose, cultivating and developing her powers.

But as always, the day had come when I had to get up and deal with the real world. And that was how I found myself partnering with Logan: the one mutant that absolutely could not stand me. Every day we would scout the perimeter for any flaw in security or newcomers. Apparently Storm had had that job, but she had been spending an excessive amount of time with Rose. So that meant I was the next choice.

I shifted the M16 I had over my shoulder, walking softly along the forest floor. Logan kept a good distance away from me, his nostrils flaring when he thought he had found something. Something about him almost reminded me of an animal.

I stopped dead when I came upon a set of fresh tracks in the snow. I turned to Logan and signaled him to come over before crouching down.

When he saw the tracks, his nostrils flared again. "This isn't good." That was all he said as he looked off to where the tracks were heading.

"What is it?" I asked quietly.

Logan looked at me for a moment before he took off in the direction of the tracks. I practically had to run to keep up with him. "Logan. What is going on? Do we need back up?"

Logan huffed as he kept moving, a plume of breath shooting from his nose into the frigid air. "No. I can handle this myself."

"Who is it?" I said, grabbing his arm and making him stop.

His face was tense. "Victor."

What the hell was that supposed to mean to me? I hardly knew this guy to begin with. How was I supposed to know who Victor was to him?

And wasn't Logan supposed to be the ultimate Amnesiac? How did he remember someone from his past to the extent that he was this upset?

When I voiced my questions he answered with a simple sentence. "You don't forget someone like this."

I rolled my eyes, and decided to follow the guy.

We walked further than I ever had through the forest as the tracks reached a small town. What people there were scurried in and out of the shops, trying desperately to get home safely. The whole town looked like a slum. Surely this was the product of Loki's reign.

A tavern sat at the edge of the city… and the tracks reached around the back of it.

Logan pulled a few euros from his back pocket. "Go get yourself a drink." The words came out in a growl. I knew he was just trying to get me out of his way, but I did what he said, keeping my mouth shut.

I swung the door open, walking right up to the bar. I didn't order a drink though. I was going to be alert when Logan needed help. Whoever Victor was, it had Logan on the edge. From what I knew of Logan- which honestly wasn't much, he liked to keep to himself- this was a feat and a half.

I surveyed the bar. There was only one person sitting at the bar further down from me and a pair of rather gruff looking men sitting in private conversation in a dark corner. I turned back, squinting in the dimly lit light. The absence of electrical light had me on edge too.

The door opened and a cold gust of wind and snow swept in. I didn't notice who the person was until the stool next to me was pulled out and a gruff voice spoke up, getting the bartender's attention. "One for the lady, Sam."

I looked over at the man, not recognizing him in the slightest. He was smoking a cigar, very similarly to Logan. When he laughed at my expression, pointed teeth showed under the expanse of his smile. He stuck the cigar back in his mouth, chewing on the butt of it before he threw it down and stomped the lit end out.

"I'm really fine, " I said quickly. I tried to get up to go, but what the man said next made me stop in my tracks.

"Loki sent me."

I turned my head back around. "And how would you know him?"

He shrugged… before backhanding me across the face and sending me sprawling on the ground. What people were left in the bar left immediately. "The boss said I couldn't kill you… but I am sure he won't mind if I beat you up a bit at least for all the trouble you've caused."

I let out a scream as he stepped on the hand that had been reaching for my M16.

Before he could hurt me more, the door swung open again… and Logan let out a feral growl. "Victor!"

"Yes, little brother?"

Woah. Woah. Little _brother_? I looked over at Logan as the mutant stalked towards Victor. I looked up at Victor. My eyes went wide as his fingernails grew to an abnormal size, looking almost like knives. I took an involuntary step back before Victor grabbed me in a choke hold, the finger-things poised at my throat like a knife. And there was no electrical energy in this tavern… shit.

Logan's nostrils flared as the two apparent brothers had a standoff. If Logan didn't like me, he most definitely _hated_ his brother. I stayed frozen where I was, cutting my eyes at Logan and trying to figure out what was going to happen. Loki knew I was alive. He knew I was here. He had sent this mutant to find me. I knew I wouldn't be killed… but I feared for Logan.

"One more step and I run her through, Logan," Victor said lethally. To prove a point he jabbed the skinof my neck, drawing a bit of blood. I let out a gasp.

"Your leader would punish you," Logan growled. "He wants her alive."

Victor smirked. "He'd get over it… eventually. I'm not too fond of him myself. Besides, Magneto- my true leader- could care less about a traitor to our race." Oh, so I was a traitor now….

My captor took a step back, shifting his weight… and I took the opportunity to strike. With all of my weight, I brought my foot up and down on his kneecap, hearing a satisfactory crunch as the kneecap dislocated. I reared my head back, head butting him in the nose for good measure.

He let me go and I slipped from his grasp as he clutched at his knee. "Let's go!" I said to Logan as I brushed past him. I tried to staunch the bleeding in my neck with my fingers.

Logan stood there for a moment… before charging head on into Victor.

ooOOoo

The stupidity of men never ceased to amaze me. This thought raced through my mind as Logan and Victor went at it.

After a brief moment of feeling good about myself for getting the asshole down, he had popped his kneecap back into place and stood up, bearing full weight on it. The cut on his head healed over as he stood up, cricking his neck and stretching out his fingers to come at us again.

Logan had met him head on, the two colliding, claws clashing. I stood there dumbfounded. Logan brought a wooden table down on Victor's back. He took advantage of Victor's momentary loss of focus to ram his brother down on the table, claw at the mutant's throat.

"Why are you here?" Logan growled. Victor was still smiling. Those awful, pointed teeth glinted in the darkness.

"I already told you. The boss wants the girl." He glanced over to look at me in my unflattering uniform. My hair was a mess and I had zilch on by way of make-up. "Though I can't exactly imagine why…"

Logan hit his brother across the face. "That's not a good enough answer."

"It's the one I've got. Take it or leave it," Victor replied as he spit blood from his mouth. "But… You may also want to check on the other girl before it's too late."

My eyes went wide. "Rose!" I gasped. I turned on my heel as Logan threw Victor down, rendering the mutant unconscious. I took off as quick as my feet would carry me, back to the shack, under the bunker.

"Rose!" I screamed as I made my way through the halls. I got several dirty looks from the other students. I saw Bobby walking down the hall, textbook in hand.

"Bobby," I choked for breath. "where's Rose?" He could see the panic in my gaze.

"Storm took her up to the helicopter pad. Why?"

I didn't answer him as I kept running, trying to squelch the sinking feeling of despair in my stomach by running even faster up the way.

"Rose!" I called as I burst through the doors that led to the enclosed hangar. "Sweetheart!"

What I saw next made my heart skip a beat. Because, looking back at me, eyes wide with fear, was my daughter strapped in the back of the helicopter. Storm was in the driver's seat. As the aircraft took off, she looked down at me and the flash of yellow in her irises said it all.

Rose was gone.

-Loki-

Loki looked down at the strange woman chained to the wall before him. He had never seen a midgardian woman with white hair. She sat there against the wall, beaten and broken after his torture.

She had finally caved. As had the Avengers. Subject a mortal to enough pain and they began to crack. Subtle, micro-fractures at first, but enough of those soon gave way to a full-blown confession.

She had told him everything.

Once he had felt Veronica's presence, Mystique had snuck into the point that he had felt the two come out of teleportation. It had all been too simple from there.

"Thank you, My Lady," Loki said sarcastically as he swept his cape behind him and walked out of the prison cell. He ignored the other three prisoners in the room. Nick Fury, Bruce Banner, and Tony Stark sat huddled for warmth as Loki left the dungeons.

He allowed himself a smirk. Everyone was in their rightful place. Well, almost everyone…

* * *

><p><strong>Hopefully that made up for last chapter? :D Let me know! Don't worry, I am working on bringing the Avengers back asap. <strong>


	21. Chapter 21

**Don't own Marvel...**

* * *

><p>"<em>And I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd.<em>

_You're gonna hear my voice when I shout it out loud"_

_~It's My Life by Bon Jovi_

* * *

><p>~Veronica~<p>

Rose. Rose was gone. Rose. My baby. Rose was with that monster… soon to be with another monster ten times worse: her own father.

I kicked a crate in my anger and desperation. I let out a scream and felt the familiar tingle of static form around my fingertips. I took a deep breath as I turned around to see Bobby and Logan standing in front of Xavier.

I walked straight up to Xavier, grabbing fistfuls of his lapel and looking him dead in the eye. "Where is Magneto's base?"

I felt Logan try to pry me off of the professor, but I shook him off. I gave the old man a gruff shake when he didn't respond. "Tell me. Now. There isn't much time."

This time Logan succeeded in getting me off of Charles. "Tell me!" I screamed. "She's all I have left!"

Only after I spoke did I realize the truth in my words. Rose really was all I had left. The rest of the Avengers were missing, Loki had gone crazy again, and all I had was this tiny little girl that had been kidnapped right out from under my nose. I struggled against Logan, and he let me go.

I knocked my bangs from my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest, refusing to let tears come.

"If Loki has Rose… It is only a matter of time before mankind falls completely, Charles," I said quietly. I wasn't sure how I knew this, maybe it was the fact that she was so powerful… and Loki could tell her anything. She was so… impressionable… "I have to find her."

Charles hadn't spoken a word until now. "I understand, Miss Parker, but an attempt to infiltrate Loki's headquarters would be suicidal."

"I don't care."

He shook his head. "I cannot offer my assistance on this matter. We are not ready for full-fledged uprising. "

"I need her, Charles." I sobbed after that, really embarrassing myself. Bobby threw an arm over my shoulder, awkwardly trying to console me.

ooOOoo

The next few hours I spent sitting in my room, staring at the wall. My mind reeled with what I could possibly do. Things were so far out of my reach. God knew where Rose was.

And here I was sitting, tearstained and puffy eyed, at a complete loss of what to do… until I felt an extreme bout of energy crash over me like a freight train.

I got up quickly, running out to the control room. Scot was at the computers, typing frantically as he attempted to figure out what was going on. "We got massive readings of electrical impulses coming in from the northern segment," Scot said quickly. "We think it's part of an Einstein-Rosenbridge."

That could only mean one thing. Thor had to be close. Very close.

I raced out of the bunker and into open air, not even bothering to cover my bare toes with boots as I stepped out into bare snow. I looked left, then right as I noticed a hulking figure staggering towards me from the snow, hammer raised as if to attack, but propped by a smaller figure.

"Thor!" I shouted as he attempted to charge at me. He stopped short several feet away from me.

"It is not you!" he said. "This is a trick. Do not test me, brother, for I am running short of patience today." He was struggling for breath. I could tell by his voice.

"Thor. It's me, Veronica," I said it slowly to prove my point. "How did you get here?"

The smaller figure cocked its head to the side as it considered what to say. Jane's voice was what drifted through the snow. "What was the first theory you helped me solve in Astrophysics?

The question caught me off then I realized she was making sure it was me. Only I would know the answer to that. When I answered Jane and Thor eased off a bit. "How are you here?" Jane asked. Thor looked really, really bad. I tried not to stare at the deep gash in his side.

I explained to them about Rose's powers and how we had gotten here. I started crying when I got to Rose's kidnapping. Thor's defensive gaze softened as he lowered his hammer completely. "Veronica," he said. "I am truly sorry. I can promise you that my brother will pay." He grimaced as his arm extended all the way to his side. The two had come right up to me now.

I wiped my nose with the back of my sleeve. "Where are the others? What's been going on?"

"Tasha, Clint, Coulson, and Captain Rogers are in hiding back in North America. The SHIELD agent Carter McIntyre is with them as well. We have been recruiting for a rebellion."

I swallowed as I tried to smile. That fact did make me happy. Some of the original Avengers were still alive.

"But, Veronica, something went wrong with evacuations. Tony, Director Fury, and Doctor Banner did not make it out. We believe they were captured." My knees went weak. Well, what was I to expect? Of course there were bound to be casualties.

"How did you get here?"

"Heimdall opened the bifrost for me to seek an audience with my father. We believe that the armies of Asgard- if my father is willing- will be the key factor in the defeat of my brother and the Magneto. I seeked an audience with the All-father just moments ago. He has agreed to bring forth an army, but what he needs is time. So instead of going back to America, I attempted to come to Sir Xavier's school. I… this does not appear to be much of a school." Thor wavered as he fell face first in the snow.

"What in hell happened to him?" I asked Jane as the two of us lifted him up and walked him toward the old shack.

Jane looked extremely worried. "We had a run-in with some mutants before we found you. One of them injured him. Where are we going?"

"Let me show you."

Perhaps I was stupid. This could very well be Loki in disguise. But would Heimdall aid Loki in opening the Bifrost? I highly doubted it. And I knew I hadn't imagined the powers I felt coming over me in my room. That was bifrost energy.

I explained to Jane about the hidden bunker, something that impressed even her greatly. Scot gave the three of us a strange look when Thor's armor set off the metal detector security device, but other than that, we were fine.

Doctors rushed around us, getting Thor on a gurney and wheeling the unconscious god into the operating room. Apparently a mutant had gotten to him with claws very similar to Wolverine's. Not a bone in my body doubted it was Victor. I shuddered as I remembered the long fingernails that had almost take my life.

"He'll be alright," I comforted Jane.

"He'd better be," she said through her tears. Then, after a bout of awkward silence, "He's going to be a father."

I ddi a double-take after what Jane said sunk in."What." I said it monotonously.

Jane gave me sheepish smile through her tears. "It's still really early yet, but… that's how I was able to get through the bifrost. Apparently the child protects me."

That sounded too familiar. I bit my lip to suppress the pain that threatened to surface. "Congratulations," I said.

-Loki-

Loki stood waiting for his child to come off of the helicopter. Mystique sauntered out, towing the little girl by her wrist.

Cool wind ripped at his hair, nose, and cheekbones and he suppressed a smirk as he watched the helpless thing before him. "Hello, Princess," he called.

Rose's eyes went wide as she took in the towering structure before her. Her gaze changed to fear when she saw her father. That bothered Loki slightly, but it did not stop him from walking up to her and bending down in front of her to make eye contact. He caught a stray hair from her face.

"Gods, you look like your mother, my princess," he whispered to her.

She was fighting tears. "I want mommy," she whimpered.

Loki rose to his full height. "I know. I want her to be with us as well. What do you say we find a way to bring her here!" His voice was only mocking a childish enthusiasm… and Rose seemed to see right through it.

"She wouldn't like that," Rose said quietly. She wiped snot from her little nose as she gazed back up at him. Loki exhaled in irritation. She was proving to be just as stubborn as her mother and he had been with her for a whole two minutes.

~Veronica~

Thor didn't get better. In fact, he got worse. Within a matter of days the gash that extended from his rib cage to his bellybutton had grown infected. Something by way of magic had poisoned him… and I knew exactly who had concocted it. I could imagine Victor dipping those awful fingernail claws into a vat of poison before an attack.

Jane was beside herself. Even math couldn't take her mind off of Thor… and the X-men were in desperate need of her services.

I sat outside the glass window that showed Thor's room, taking in the tragic scene of Jane sitting by his bedside, his hand in hers.

He had been unconscious since he had come out of the operation to stich him up. I knew what we needed to do. we needed to find Victor and make him tell about the poison that had been used. That was the way to save Thor's life… and it required taking a team into enemy territory to do it.

I turned around to see Logan, leaning against the door jam at the end of the hospital wing. His arms were crossed. "You see now why I wanted to kill him," he stated simply.

I walked up to him, arms crossed. "I understand why, but-"

"He was going to kill you, you realize that, right? He probably had that same stuff on him when he had you."

I showed Logan the fading scar that Victor had given me. It stretched from my right ear to the middle of the right side of my neck. "It barely broke the skin, but the poison that he used would have been strong enough to harm me if that was what he had. That poison was meant for Thor."

Logan let out a huff. "What do you propose we do?"

I bit my lip, wrapping my arms tighter around myself. "We find Victor."

ooOOoo

Once again, I was out in the woods with Wolverine. It was dark this time though… and I was scared out of my wits. I hated the dark. I never knew what was behind me or what could see me without me knowing about it.

We were heading back to the same village that we had seen Victor in last. That was our best bet.

We hadn't let anyone else know about our plans for the sake of secrecy. Plus it just seemed easier to go with two people. Charles- if I knew him- would want us to take a detail of men. When chasing a mutant like Victor… let's just say two was better than a large group.

I pulled my leather jacket around myself, shivering from the cold. I kept my sense alert, tensing at every sound.

When we reached the square, no one was outside. In this situation, that was their best bet to survival. But then we heard a crash in one of the alleys. We spun, Logan's claws elongating from his knuckles, the squishy sound of his flesh ripping sending chills up my spine.

Victor appeared from where we turned, a smile plaster on his face… only this time, he wasn't alone. To my right, three mutants stepped from the shadows, forming a circle around Logan and me. One of them had a flame dancing around in his hand, illuminating the smirk on his face. A few hybrids showed up as well, long pink tongues flicking out like a frog's.

"Logan," I said.

"I know," he replied. He had a lethal look on his face, brows furrowed in concentration.

I looked back at Victor, summoning as much energy as I could from the atmosphere. This was going to the most exercise I had had in months…

The battle lasted for a whole ten minutes. I dodged and kicked, zapped as many people as I could. Logan slashed one of the three mutant's throat open in one swipe of his claws on his way to Victor. Victor seemed to be content to stand off to the side and watch as the battle unfolded. A hell hound leaped onto Logan, and I zapped it before it could get its tongue near him. The thing fell over, dead. Apparently whatever Magneto and Loki had done to clone it had harmed its resilience factor. Which was good news for us, at least.

I leaped in the air, landing in a tuck and roll as one came at me. There were only a few left, and I dpdged several flame balls that the mutant with the fire slung at me. Something in my brain registered that this was too easy. These things were merely humoring us.

I saw Logan make it to Victor, elbowing the mutant in the nose. The two brothers began to spar, Logan gaining and keeping the upper hand. He was fueled by his rage towards his brother. That was what was making him strong.

Whatever Victor had done to him, I was sure I didn't want to make the same mistake. Logan was fricking scary when he was pissed off.

I ducked under a fireball that the fire-maker had sent my way, bringing my hands into a spherical motion and thrusting all my powers at the mutant. The boy flew through the air, landed against the wooden side of the building, and collapsed to the ground. he didn't get up.

When I turned back around to see Logan, he had pinned Victor to the ground. I grabbed a sedative from my belt and plunged it straight into Victor's leg. Immediately, the muscle relaxers took affect and the monster stopped thrashing.

"This won't keep him for long. His system is like mine and will burn the chemicals off within the hour. We need to get him contained." Logan spoke quickly as he hoisted Victor over his shoulder to carry him.

I nodded. But an old, grandfatherly voice stopped me in my tracks. "Tsk, tsk, Making trouble in the town square at _this_ time of night? Mrs. Laufeyson, your husband would be ashamed."

I made contact with Logan, telling him to get the hell out of here before I spun on my heel to face Magneto.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So? What did yall think? Was it fast-paced enough? Did it work out okay? Was it terrible? I NEED to know! Once again, I am headed into another rough week, so I can't promise on the frequency of my updates, but I will do my absolute best to get another up soon. <strong>

**Thanks, guys. I love you all so much. The support I have received has been phenomenal and I only hope I can keep giving the right kind of writing to you!**

**Please, Please, please, tell me what you think! **

**~Sirius**


	22. Chapter 22

"_So much hate for the ones we love._

_Tell me we both matter, don't we?"_

_~ 'Running Up that Hill' by Placebo_

~Veronica~

"I'll get backup," Logan growled as he melted into the shadows. He knew as well as I that back-up wouldn't help me one bit, but it was a nice notion. I smiled slightly as I turned my full attention to the single figure standing in the square in front of me. Logan would get back with Victor. Thor would be safe. I just hoped I could take care of myself a while longer…

"You're lucky I don't blow your head off," I said. Even to myself the comment sounded like a child's. Meaningless and without any capabilities of pulling a feat like that off. But Magneto's chuckle didn't make me feel any better.

"My dear, even if you tried you could not defeat me. Did I not tell you that metal is an excellent conductor of electrical energy?"

I let a blast fly anyway, aiming it directly to his left. He didn't even flinch when the snow around the blast melted, leaving a seared, black mark in the ground.

He shook his head disapprovingly. "That is no way to treat one of your world leaders."

"You're not my world leader," I said, keeping my defensive stance up and ready.

"Well, how about the man that has a considerable degree of control over the life of your child?"

Something snapped in my head when he mentioned Rose. I charged him, now understanding why Logan had charged his brother. Rage was power, a spark of strength to drive one to act.

Before I could get to him, though, he pulled several nails from the wooden buildings surrounding us and shot them in my direction like a stream of bullets. I slipped down, using my momentum to keep me sliding forward on the icy ground.

I tried to knock his legs out from under him as I slid past him, but somehow he managed to elevate himself away from my grasp.

"Where's my baby!" I screamed as Magneto continued to sling chunks of metal at me.

I dodged them one by one, fueled by anger and hate. I grunted as I leaped back up in irritation.

"She is quite safe, my dear. I assure you. We wouldn't want the crowned jewel of the mutant race falling into the wrong hands now, would we?"

I dodged the pieces of metal again, trying really hard to keep a level head. I was able to get in a good shot of electricity as well.

Not thinking one bit, I pulled one of my_ METAL_ pistols from its sheath to aim at him.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. With a wave of his hand, he pulled the gun from my clenched hand, turning it on me. I looked down the barrel of the gun that was now trained directly between my eyes. "I do believe we are quite finished, Mrs. Laufeyson."

Instead of the gun going off, Magneto raised it the left of my head, bringing it down over my brow. A blinding white light filled my vision before I passed out.

ooOOoo

When I woke up, I was on a metal bench in a semi-dark office. On a nearby desk, a row of metal balls sat suspended in the air, each one at the ends ticking as it completed a swing and knocking the other one at the opposite end out of place.

Tick, tick, tick…

I sat up, ignoring the all-too familiar throbbing in my temples that waking up from unconsciousness always brought upon. I needed water.

"Good to know you're awake, Love," a chillingly familiar voice called to me from across the room. The figure was shrouded in shadow.

I didn't answer, trying to calm my racing heart. Loki stepping from the shadows did nothing to help. I closed my eyes, trying to keep the room from spinning…

Before I could answer, Loki's face- his terrifyingly beautiful face- melted with a flash of yellow irises. Mystique now stood before me. I tried to stand up in my anger. This woman had kidnapped my daughter. Now I was her hostage too. Nothing could be more humiliating.

"Sorry, just had to see your reaction," she hissed. "I love doing that to people."

I closed my eyes, suppressing the nausea that was threatening to overpower me.

"You're not going to say anything?" she said quietly. "You aren't… afraid? Disgusted? Surely you are feeling something."

Right about now I just felt like vomiting. "Where's my daughter?"

The blue skin around Mystique's lips stretched wide in a smile. She didn't answer me though. Magneto came through a side door, arms folded. Without that ridiculous helmet, he looked like any other old guy. The skin around his eyes crinkled as he smiled at Mystique. "Welcome back to reality, Mrs. Laufeyson."

He nodded to Mystique, who helped me to my feet, my hands were clapped in handcuffs in one fluid motion. I didn't have the strength to refuse.

"If you will come with me, there is something I wish to show you." Mystique pushed me forward roughly and I had no choice but to fall in step with Magneto. "I do not believe you understand my side of this argument completely, Mrs. Laufeyson. Surely one that sees eye to eye with one such as your husband would be at least tolerant to my cause. Yet you still insist on fighting us. Why not join us? Surely one with your capabilities would be granted great honor in the ranks of the brotherhood, even without the fact that your husband is a world leader…"

I didn't say a word, but kept walking through the door Magneto had come from. I had heard this before, and I was not interested. My hands were tied, figuratively and literally. We came upon a set of sliding doors that led out into a large, circular room. Stone walls lined the perimeter and I could have sworn that water was running somewhere. Cool air brushed past my face. At least that was welcoming. It helped to push the rest of the fogginess from my mind.

A huge, tower looking thing stood before me. It was metallic, with silver arches surrounding what looked like a balcony at the top. Something told me this wasn't just for sight-seeing.

That was when Magneto explained to me what exactly the thing was. "This is the next and final step in the annihilation of the rest of mankind, Mrs. Laufeyson. The future, if you will. It is designed to turn the strong remaining humans into our kind, and well, as for the weak… you get the idea."

"So?" I managed, trying to hide the dread feeling in the pit of my stomach. My throat was still so dry…

Magneto attempted to hide his irritation. "Do you know what powers this, Mrs. Laufeyson?"

I arched an eyebrow. "Diamonds?" I said sarcastically. Magneto looked as though he wanted to hit me.

"No, Madam, I assure you it is not _diamonds_ ." He hissed the last word.

I shrugged.

Then a smile came over his face that really unsettled me. " A very powerful mutant, Mrs. Laufeyson. One with great familial power ties."

I knew exactly where he was going with this. "She won't do it," I was surprised by my newfound strength. "Rose will not be responsible for something like that!"

Magneto looked pleased that he had finally gotten a reaction out of me. I tried to break free of the bonds at my wrists, but my attempts were in vain. "Your husband seems to think she will."

Loki. Loki was willing to subject rose to this… "What will it do to _her_?"

It was Magneto's turn to shrug. "The outcome for her is quite unknown. It nearly killed me the last time I tried to power it."

My eyes went wide. "No." I said it defiantly. "She won't. I won't let you and I _know_ Loki won't when he hears of the risk." Or would he? Did I even know him anymore? It had been several months since we had truly been together…

"He won't hear of the risk, Mrs. Laufeyson, not from me, anyway." He must have been reading the expression on my face because he replied almost in a perfect response to what was going through my mind. "And why would he believe you, Mrs. Laufeyson? The woman who kept his child from him for so long? Teaching it to hate and despise its father."

"I never did-"

"That is not the way he sees it, I can assure you."

My vision was going red with anger and panic. "I won't let you! Never. You won't get near her as long as-"

I felt the needle in my arm before the darkness took me again.

ooOOoo

_Along my way to wherever they were taking me, I passed in and out of a dream world. Some dreams were good, but others were total and complete nightmares. I saw my friends die countless times. I saw Thor, pale and gaunt, weeping over Jane's body. Tony was dead, as far as I could tell, the round metal disc in his chest that was his life force completely short-circuited by nuclear energy…_

_ I felt cold hands wrapping around me, a chilling laugh, enveloping me in darkness, pulling me up…_

I gasped for breath when I came to abruptly in the back of a helicopter. My hands were chained to the seat beside me, and I struggled against them in a futile attempt to free myself. "Wup, she's awake already, Mystique," I heard the boy on the passenger side say as he looked back at me. I recognized him as the boy with the fire from the village.

"She's fine right where she is," Mystique said calmly. "We're almost to Loki's now anyway. I'm sure he'll want her fully awake when she gets there."

Shit. I was going to see Loki…

ooOOoo

I was ushered from the helicopter, through a set of immense double doors, and into a foyer that was fit for a king. Black and white marble tiles splayed out in a spiral pattern along the floor, rising up to a spiraled staircase at the back of the room. The atmosphere was seemed to have no capacity for happiness… and it was cold. I felt my bonds at my wrists. There was no way I was getting out of here. I was going to have to face Loki, completely at his mercy…

Mystique pushed me up the staircase. I nearly tripped once or twice on the hard tiles, but managed to get up the staircase without further injury. Set after set of doors she took me through. I was beginning to feel as if I were in a maze…

Until she pushed me through a set of mahogany double doors, leaving me alone in my handcuffs. When I turned to face the room before me, the first thing I heard was his voice.

ooOOoo

"Veronica?" It was tired and sounded far older than what I remembered. I swallowed, not answering. "Love? Is it you"

I rolled my eyes. "Who else would it be?"

He emerged from the shadows, dressed in a black, button up shirt and trousers. This time I knew it was really him as he sauntered up to me. He remained a good distance, sizing me up, before he took me in a full embrace. I stiffened. "I thought I had lost you," he whispered into my ear. I shivered, waiting for him to pull away. "Forgive me," he said as he looked down at my bound hands. "You won't be needing those."

With a swipe of his hand, magic flowed and sliced the handcuffs from my wrists. I massaged the areas that had been worn by the metal, never taking my eyes from his. What was he playing at?

"So icy, Dear. Honestly, I am only out for our best interest," he said as he brought both hands to my hips. I glared daggers at him.

"Get away from me," I said quietly, looking behind him, startled by what the room boasted. It was a bedroom, a very extravagant bedroom…

"Or what, Love?" he asked as his hands dug into my hips roughly. "Do I frighten you? Is that it?"

"Hardly," I snorted lightly.

"Then therein lies the problem," He muttered.

I barely saw his blow coming… and I barely stopped it from colliding with my face.

"Where is Rose?" I asked lethally.

He hit at me again, trying to knock my legs out from under me. I pulled back enough to avoid him.

"She is safe, of course, darling." This time he got in a blow to my cheek, which I swiftly retaliated with a knee to his stomach. He doubled over, letting me bring the same knee up to hit him in the nose.

I dodged his blow once, twice, and blocked the third. He sent a kick at my chest and I went flying backwards. He was over me in a matter of seconds, grabbing me by the collar and lifting me up to pin me against the wall. With a grunt, I brought both of my legs up and kicked outwards into his abdomen.

We kept at it for several minutes, neither ever gaining the upper-hand. I dodged several blasts of his magic, and threw in a few blasts of electrical energy of my own.

After a while, I sent an axe-kick into his shoulders, plowing straight into him. He fell backwards, landing on his elbows as he stared up at me. Before he could do anything, I was standing over him, delivering punch after punch to his face.

"Stop!" he said firmly as he grabbed my elbows. I struggled to free myself, but his grip was too strong. In a burst of strength, he flipped me onto my back and pinned me down. I kicked and thrashed out, but it was no good.

"Get off of me! I hate you!" I said fiercely. This was the man that would go to any lengths to achieve power, even if it meant sacrificing his own daughter. It repulsed me to think that he was so near.

Unfortunately, my body had other ideas. My torso wanted to melt into his weight as if he were a magnet. I kept struggling, but I could sense he knew what was going through my mind.

A smirk came over those perfect lips as I stopped thrashing for the slightest moment. He pinned both of my wrists at the top of my head as he let his other hand travel down my body. No matter what I did, I could not bring myself from him. Damn it.

All reason shut down when his hand wrapped around my knee. I closed my eyes. _You hate him. You hate him. You hate him._ That god-awful hand was traveling up the inside of my leg… up, up, up… Oh, God. His touch sent a bolt of white hot energy through me, much like that of one of my lightning bolts.

I bit my lip and closed my eyes.

"Look at me," he whispered. "Look me in the eyes and tell me there isn't something between us. You love me still."

I opened my eyes, meeting his gaze. Through the waves of desire he was creating in me, I forced out what I wanted to say. "I never claimed I didn't love you. But I hate what you have become. I hate that you can do this to me…"

With a smirk, he sat up, releasing me. I was on my feet quickly, retreating to the balcony, taking in the cool air… I felt him behind me.

"We had something once," he said, his lips brushing my ear as he whispered it. "Why not see if it is still there?"

I took in a shaky breath as he pressed his lips to my collarbone, pushing me against the stony railing. It was in segments and it shifted under my weight as he pressed into me. This was so wrong!

He sensed my discomfort and pulled away. He looked me dead in the eyes. "Do you trust me?"

I smiled without humor. "Of course not," I said quickly. I felt his hands on either side of me shift the segment of the railing, causing me to flail out helplessly. I latched onto his neck as the only source of something to hold onto as the bit of railing fell from the balcony, hurtling God knew how many stories before crashing to the ground with a sickening crunch.

I opened my eyes to see his green ones peering back at me, his lips dangerously close to my own…

"Say it, Love. Remind me." He kissed my forehead, my cheek, my nose, and planted one last taunting kiss on the corner of my mouth in between the words. I closed my eyes. He moved to my neck…

"Loki…" In one last act of defiance, I uttered two very different words than what he was expecting… "Fuck you."

I felt his lips smile against the tender skin at the base of my neck. "I suppose that would be the general idea, Love," he whispered… and then he was pressing me against the side of the building, his body against mine.


	23. Chapter 23

**Don't own Marvel... **

* * *

><p>"<em>How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes.<em>

_I struggle to find any truth in your lies._

_And now my heart stumbles on things I don't know._

_My weakness I feel I must finally show."_

_~ 'Awake my Soul' by Mumford and Sons_

* * *

><p>-Loki-<p>

There had been few things in Loki's lifetime that had surprised him. He had always been the trickster, not the one being fooled.

But when he found himself hovering over this… goddess, writhing beneath him in his bed, he found himself wondering exactly how he had survived for the past few months without her. His feelings were only magnified when he bit down on a particularly sensitive patch of skin on her throat, soliciting a groan from his lover as she arched beneath him and raked her nails over his bare back.

Overwhelming triumph consumed him. She was his. Finally, at long last they were together again. It had taken so much, so many attempts, but he had gotten her back where he wanted her. He smiled through the rough kisses he planted as he travelled over her body before allowing himself to succumb completely to his instincts.

~Veronica~

I woke up hours later. Everything was foggy as consciousness creeped upon me. I opened my eyes to slits to take in the room around me. Loki was gone, probably off to attend to some details of running the world.

The room itself was a wreck, and that was euphemizing it. A vase that had contained a floral arrangement lay shattered on the floor next to the tipped over shelf it had been sitting on. As I stretched, a pain in my lower back made me remember bumping into it forcefully somewhere between the balcony and the bed…

The bed! Dear God. Last night's actions came swarming back to me and guilt flooded me. I rolled over, laying on my side of the bed and covering my eyes with the heel of my hands. This wasn't supposed to have happened again…

With each movement, my body groaned in protest. I was sore all over. I felt like I had just completed one of Thor's obstacle courses. I was amazed... but that didn't change my self-disgust.

When I had been with Loki the first few times, he had always been gentle, careful even. Now, as I took in the wreck of the room around me, I wondered what had caused this new side to surface in our relationship.

The sun had risen, slanting through the large window and open doors that led to the balcony. I sat up slowly, rubbing my neck in an attempt to ease the crick that had formed while I slept. I checked my disgruntled reflection in the mirror of the dressing table across the room. I was covered in bruises and red marks from last night.

I got up quickly then, trying to find my clothes in the rubble with nothing but a bed sheet to shield my body from the icy air of the room. I sidestepped one of the large posters of the canopy bed, splintered and fallen along the bedroom floor. I cringed as I bent down to find a single boot.

That was all I could find of my old clothes.

I threw my head back in exasperation, trying and failing to keep the sheet I had gotten from the bed around my body. I pulled it up quickly, tucking it securely around myself.

"I quite like the other way better," I heard a chilling voice call to me from the double doors that I had come through last night. Loki was standing there, fully dressed in his simple Midgardian clothes – perfect if not a bit rumpled- of last night, arms crossed and a smirk on his face as he leaned against the door jam. How long had he been standing there?

He closed the distance between us in two strides, taking my left hand and examining the ring on the ring finger. He kissed the diamond once. "I did notice you hadn't taken it off."

I rolled my eyes as I brought my hand away from his, using it to tug the sheet further up to where the hem almost covered my neck. He rolled his eyes at my last action. "Oh, please, Love. As if there is any more reason for you to feel the need to hide yourself."

"I need clothes," I said stubbornly. "Preferably my own."

He smirked as his hand cupped my cheek and his thumb traced my lower lip before capturing it with his own. "Fine. I shall have appropriate attire brought to you."

He turned to the room, waving a hand as the rest of the mess dissolved, reforming and mending into the original pristine state it had been in before. He slipped out of his shirt, walking over to the wardrobe at the far end of the room. I cringed inwardly when I noticed the red scratch-marks along his back. Well, at least I wasn't the only one that bore the scars of last night.

ooOOoo

_You have got to be kidding me…_

I looked over the blue expanse of material that had been brought to my room shortly after Loki had left. Despite my attempts at escape, I had found virtually no ways of doing so. I also didn't want to leave until I had Rose safely in my arms again. Then I would never let her go.

So here I was, merely humoring Loki by going along with what he said until I could figure out what to do next. I picked the dress up gingerly with two fingers from each hand. I held it up in disdain. It looked like something straight out of Asgard.

But I was still out of clothes and had had to settle for a robe until these had been brought. After a lot of searching through the wreck that had been Loki's room, I had found my uniform, tattered and torn and spread over everywhere. Ass hole… he hadn't even had the decency to save my normal clothes.

I slipped into the dress, at least glad for the comfort being decent again provided. Now I could force Loki to let me see Rose. I made to walk out of the double doors, but stopped when Loki opened them abruptly.

He glanced over my body quickly. "See something you like?" I asked. I was being a smart ass and I knew it, but I didn't like the way he kept staring at me… like a wolf…

He smirked before placing a kiss on my forehead. "Where's Rose? I need to see her," I whispered.

"She will be joining us for the midday meal, Love," he replied. Then, after a brief pause, "She has grown quite a bit in the last few days."

I swallowed. "You realize what Magneto is planning to do with her, right?"

Loki nodded. "This is a very crucial part to my plan, in fact." He looked like he wanted to say more, but I cut him off.

"It could KILL her," I said quickly. "Did you know that?" Silence. "Do you even care?" I whispered that last part.

Anger flashed in his eyes. "How _dare_ you ask me a question such as that," he hissed. " I am recreating this world for _her_. Why in Valhalla would I want to kill my own flesh and blood?" Then hurt took the place of his anger. "Do you really think so little of me, Darling?"

Dear god, that look was enough to break my heart. But I held my ground, keeping eye contact.

"I can assure you, Erik guaranteed the machine's safety to Rose upon my agreement to join forces with him. There will not be a hair harmed on Rose's head when we take this miserable planet completely for our own."

"I don't believe you. I don't believe what Magneto told you. Loki, Rose will die if she is subjected to this force. I feel it. Magneto mentioned to me the possibility."

We were nearly nose to nose, each of our gazes burning into the other's. The next person to speak wasn't either of us, though.

ooOOoo

"Momma?" My eyes widened as I heard Rose's voice come from behind me. I turned away from Loki, telling him with my eyes that this wasn't over.

When I turned, my daughter was not the young, four-year-old I had lost. She was now in the body of a ten-year old. Blue eyes peered out from beneath raven bangs back at me. Mystique stood at the end of the hallway, obviously babysitting the young girl.

"Oh my god. Rosie?" I whispered as I looked at Loki before she took off running towards me. I held her against me, letting her know I was there. Loki looked on.

When Rose pulled away, she looked from me to her father. "What are you doing with him?" she whispered. A smirk tugged around his serious expression.

"Mummy has come back to us, my blossom," he said. Rose looked at him for a moment, eyes still wide with fear as she latched onto me in an even harder death grip. So she was still afraid of him.

"Did he hurt you?" she whispered. I felt her little hand reach for my bruised wrist. Luckily, the high collar of my gown hid the rather obscene marks he had left on my neck and collar bone last night.

I shook my head. "We'll sort his out later, sweetie. I know you are probably hungry, right?"

She nodded, glancing shyly back at Loki as he took my arm with a huff and ushered us down the hall.

We were safe. For the time being. And I intended to take full advantage of that.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: For some reason, this was shorter than usual… sorry guys! Thought we needed a breather from the fast pace of the last two chapters. Next one will be longer. I promise. <strong>

**And, for those that know me and my writing style, you know I tend to keep sexual references dulled down. While these last two chapters were not explicit, I still feel that an explanation is in order. I felt like the only way to gain real power from Loki and Veronica's reunion was to add in what they were feeling at the time. So, just to make sure we're clear, this story shall remain rated T, but there may be a few sexual references from time to time. If I feel it is necessary, you will see a little note at the top of the page :D**

**Thanks so much for your wonderful support, reviews, and all who have favorited this story. It means the world to me!**

**~Sirius **


	24. Chapter 24

**Own nothing but plotline, Rose, and Veronica...**

* * *

><p>"<em>Lend me your hand and we'll conquer them all,<em>

_But lend me your heart and I'll just let you fall._

_Lend me your eyes; I can change what you see,_

_But your soul you must keep totally free."_

_~'Awake my Soul' by Mumford and Sons_

* * *

><p>~Veronica~<p>

Several days passed. I was on pins and needles every second. No matter what I said to Loki, he simply wouldn't believe me about Magneto's machine. I had to think of something and soon because from what I could tell, the time was coming when Loki would want to use Rose's powers.

I sat with Rose at lunch, going over a book with her. I didn't want her illiterate, even if she was the most powerful mutant on earth. Her powers only seemed to help her intelligence though, and I found myself pleasantly surprised when she picked right up on the language… and translated it into German.

"Ich bin eine hund. Bist du eine Hunde? Ich liebe zu laufen und spielen. Es ist spass! Magst du zu laufen und spielen?" The words flowed from Rose's tongue as if they were her native language. I looked down at her in amazement. Where the hell had that come from? I looked down at the children's book in my hand. I could only guess that what she had said was right, even if I didn't speak a lick of German.

I guess she had picked up some of Loki's genes on that matter. I was pretty sure Asgardians were taught to speak multiple languages, but that was still just my guess. But I had never heard of a child speaking in a language other than what they had been brought up in. I decided it was just one little thing about Rose that I would have to chalk up to her magical abilities.

"Sehr gut, meine Liebling. Sehr gut." I froze when I heard Magneto's voice come from the doorway behind me. I tensed, not turning around, but calling out to him.

"You aren't welcome here. Leave us," I said it authoritatively. If I had to act as Loki's queen I was damn sure going to use it to my advantage.

I heard Magneto chuckle as he strode into the room anyway. I reached my hand out for Rose's and she took it under the table. "Deine Mutter magst mich nicht," Magneto said quietly to my daughter as he pulled a chair up to the table.

Rose raised an eyebrow, giving him a look that she only could have gotten from me. I tried not to smile. She was proving to be a good judge of character, my daughter.

"I would like a word with your mother, though, My Dear," he said to her, slipping into English. She popped a grape in her mouth, obviously not interested. "Could you excuse us for the time being? I do believe Mystique is outside if you wish to play with her."

"She is staying right here," I said deliberately. Rose seemed to agree with me.

"Very well, Mrs. Laufeyson," he sighed. "I have a proposition for you. One that involves… well... her."

He nodded at Rose, who had gotten up from the table as he started speaking and gone to look out the window at the jets that had flown overhead. That was all that reminded us that there was still resistance out there.

"I'm not interested. I don't know what you have done to Loki to make him so gung-ho for your little scheme with the humans, but I can assure you, sir, I want nothing to do with it. She will not be helping you in any way shape or form."

Magneto let out another sigh. "Forgive me, Mrs. Laufeyson, but it appears you seem to still have a soft spot for the human race. If I may be so bold- which I may as I am a ruler of equal status to your husband- that hardly seems fitting for one in your position."

"You think I _want_ to be here? Hell, if it were up to me, Loki and I would be raising our daughter the right way. Not in this hell you have created."

I felt the metal spoon and fork by my plate quiver dangerously and the chandelier overhead rattled. "Do not test me, Mrs. Laufeyson. I can assure you it will not end well."

I rolled my eyes sarcastically. "Haven't heard that one before."

"Mrs. Laufeyson, you may think me as cruel as your husband, but I can assure you that I have no qualms against taking your life. He is blinded by his love for you," he indicated my neck, which still bore the marks Loki had left there from the first night. I had covered them with powder, but I guess they still showed. "Any smart ruler would have killed you the moment you attacked our forces with the known enemy, Wolverine. Instead, he took you into his bed. I have tolerated you to this point. Do not push me any further." He looked over at Rose. "In any way at all. I have ways of making 'accidents' happen to those I no longer need. And you, Mrs. Laufeyson," he let out a small laugh, "I _never_ needed you."

I glared at him. He had not lost that calm demeanor the whole time, though the metal objects around me had shaken dangerously. "Are you finished?"

"Quite," he said as he pulled his cape around to stand up. Rose had come back over to me now. "Farewell, Little One," he said charmingly to her. He gave me one last meaningful glance before leaving the room.

I realized I had been gripping the table in front of me so hard that the wood had started to splinter. Oh the joys of having Thor's strength… Despite my attempts to blow Magneto off, he had struck fear into me. Not for myself, but for my daughter. I was still a prisoner here and so was she, even if Loki attempted to cover it up with riches.

Something needed to be done.

-Loki-

Loki returned from his meeting with the Brotherhood in Australia shortly after midday. When he went to the dining room to find his family, they were not there. His curiosity piqued, he turned on his heel to go to his bedchambers. Perhaps they were there?

No one was in his rooms either. _So it is a game of hide and seek is it?_

With a cocky smirk, he searched through the palace, coming up empty. Where were they? What he came upon next was quite interesting. Out in the courtyard, he could make out his wife and child near one of the brick fences that encircled it. Then he realized Veronica had a backpack on Rose's shoulders. _No. this will not happen again._

In a flash, he teleported from where he stood on the balcony of his bedchambers and landed directly behind his wife. Rose saw him and her eyes went wide. He was just close enough to allow Veronica to feel his presence, and he could feel her tense up as his icy breath cascaded down the back of her neck.

She turned around slowly. "Hello, Loki," she said quietly. Her voice did not quiver.

"What is this?" he asked quietly. "After all I have done to get you to safety, you want to leave me again? Forgive me, Love, but I don't quite understand."

"Well, maybe you will understand when I tell you what Magneto said."

He arched an eyebrow, waiting.

Veronica inhaled, exhaled. "He pretty much full-out threatened to kill me, Loki. And Rose as well."

Something stirred in Loki's eyes. "I do not believe that. Part of our agreement-"

"You made an agreement with a _psychopath._" She said it defiantly.

"I disagree." It was a standoff. Veronica stood, arms crossed, that dangerous glint in her blue eyes, while Loki merely countered it. "Rose, why don't you go back inside. I find the atmosphere a bit too heavy for one as young as you."

Rose looked at me. Veronica nodded. "I'll find you soon," Veronica said quietly as she took the backpack from her.

When she was gone, Veronica looked back to Loki. "I told you, I don't trust him," she said.

"But I do. Give me a reason not to. He has helped over run this world."

The two were nearly toe to toe now, creeping up on one another as they spoke.

"I'll give you several. You are blinded by greed. I have wondered quite often actually how much of the man at the beach was really you. You are blinded by the prospects of finally getting what you wanted and taking over. You don't even care that you had something far greater beforehand. All because you feel you have to throw a hissy fit to get the All-Father to even notice you-"

She was cut off as his hand shot to her throat. "Do not mention my father again," he said it slowly and dangerously.

"Or what?" she choked out.

His eyes narrowed to slits, but before he could say anymore, a guard interrupted them. "My Lord?"

Loki rolled his eyes as he let his wife go. "Yes?"

"New hostages have just arrived, My Lord, if you are ready for the interrogation."

Loki let out a smile. "Yes. Thank you." He looked over to Veronica who was massaging her throat. "And I do believe my wife will join us." The mutant bowed and exited the courtyard. "Now, my dear, I believe you are ready to see your friends, yes?"

He let out a cackle as his wife's eyes went wide with fear. This would be fun.

~Veronica~

My friends? Dear god. I had no idea how Loki interrogated people. I didn't even know who he had. What if it was Steve? Big, strong Steve that wouldn't hurt a fly without a good reason? Or Tony? I dreaded the thought of witnessing anything like that.

Loki took a place at his throne, dragging me roughly up to stand by him. I rolled my eyes when he pulled out a pair of handcuffs to latch me to the chair. "Wouldn't want you trying to run off again, now would we, Love?" he asked as he planted a kiss on my cheek. I shuddered and he smirked at my reaction.

I stood there, waiting for the double doors to open and the hostages to come through. The silence weighed heavily on my ears.

When the doors opened, I realized who had come through first off. Hawkeye, the teenager in a grown man's body, came walking through, handcuffed and looking a little worse for wear. Natasha came through too, though she was a little bit more guarded. That made me feel good at least. She was at least giving them a run for their money.

When the two saw me, they nearly stopped in their tracks. Betrayal was written all over their faces. "Well look who it is, Hawkeye," Tasha said plainly, loud enough to reach me. "The little traitor at work."

I glared at her. Could she not see the handcuffs that bound me to Loki's seat? Actually, knowing Loki, he had probably enchanted them to where they couldn't be seen. What better way to get back at me for trying to escape with Rose? I bit my lip to hide my anger.

"You shall not address your queen like that, Black Widow," Loki said quickly. "In fact, you will not be addressing much of anyone unless you are giving us information."

He rose from his seat to stand before the two. Hawkeye glared up at him. _Oh, Hawkeye, don't get yourself killed, please._

But Loki seemed amused for the moment. That annoyed Clint even more. He shot off a smart remark right from the start. "So, your highness, whatcha gonna do now?"

Loki struck him across the face. "That, for starters, Mr. Barton."

I made eye contact with Clint, shaking my head slightly and pulling on the handcuffs in an attempt to show him why I was just standing here while Loki beat him. I couldn't stand the thought of the two thinking I had betrayed them.

Understanding flickered in the archer's gaze.

"Now, Mr. Barton," Loki said. "I want to know where my infuriating brother is."

Clint squinted up at Loki. "Go soak your head," he said quickly. I cringed when Loki's staff met Clint's gut. The agent doubled over, but he didn't scream. I closed my eyes. This was too much.

"You will tell me eventually, Mr. Barton, I assure you," Loki said as he grabbed Clint's chin and forced him to look at him. I could tell that Loki's fingers were digging into Clint's flesh roughly. "Your friends were strong at first too… but after the screaming ended they were quite cooperative."

What friends? Who was here?

Clint's eyes went wide and anger filled him, the same thoughts going through his head. "What did you do?" he said angrily, pulling at his captors in an attempt to get at Loki. "Where are they!"

Loki shrugged. "You shall see them soon enough, Mr. Barton, but let's get down to business first. Mystique?" The blue woman appeared from a side door. "If you would be so kind as to escort my wife from the room, I do believe this may become too much for her and I would not want to cause her the pain."

Mystique nodded. "As you command, My king."

I wanted to throw up. This was already too much. Just the thought of what Loki would do to Clint and Natasha… What he had probably already done to the Avengers and SHIELD agents he had captured first off… I struggled against Mystique's grasp as she undid the handcuffs and walked me to Loki's bedchambers.

The thought of more Avengers being here made me feel at least a little hopeful. If I could find them Xavier would have a better chance of taking back the world…

And as I sat in the dim light of the bedroom, a plan was already forming in my head.

* * *

><p><strong>Ta-daa! Hopefully this was okay? Review to let me know!<strong>

**As for my German speakers, how was my little dialogue at the beginning? I honestly pulled it straight from my head, so I am hoping it was correct? Was it? :D **

**~Sirius **


	25. Chapter 25

**Don't own Marvel... still... also, little bit of sensual stuff heading your way, just throwing that out there :D**

* * *

><p>"<em>Bleeding love, the silent escape.<em>

_You got to hang onto yourself._

_It's like the sound of winter."_

'_Sound of Winter' by Bush_

* * *

><p>-Veronica-<p>

I heard Loki's footsteps before anything else. His booted feet echoed on the tiled floors as he came closer to the bedroom. I knew what I was going to do. I just had to figure out how to get myself to do it.

The doors opened to the bedchamber and my heart thudded against my chest. I stood up as Loki strode into the room, arms behind his back and a smirk on his face. It was almost like he knew how anxious I was. I noticed a set of keys, dangling from his belt before he picked them up and placed them in his inner breast pocket.

"Your friends truly are wonderful, darling," he said through his grin. "With the right persuasion they can be excellent sports."

I closed my eyes in an attempt to block out what he said, biting my lip. When I opened my eyes, he was standing directly in front of me, the two of us toe to toe.

"You really shouldn't do that, darling," he said, running his thumb over my lower lip. "It is far too enticing." He pulled me into his arms, our chests crushing together forcefully. I felt the breath whoosh from my lungs and he smirked.

"Can I know where my friends are?" I said quietly. "Please?" I batted my eyelashes, feeling like an idiot.

He chuckled as he pressed his lips to mine. "You never were an empty-headed fool, Veronica. Don't start acting the part now."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," I said in the same tone.

He kissed me again, more forcefully this time. I could detect the same urgency he had exhibited the first night I came here. I pulled away and went to sit down on the couch by the window. Of course, he followed me. He wouldn't stop smiling and it unnerved me. I held my ground, not shifting as he trailed a hand to rest at my knee.

I looked over at him, taking his hand. There was nothing tender about this scenario, but I forced my will into it, trying to show him what he was doing was wrong, that Magneto was not out for the good of the whole, that I was in the right.

This was the part that disgusted me. Not because of what I was about to do, but why I was doing it. I straddled his lap quicker than he could react. "I'd appreciate it if you would look me in the eyes when I'm talking to you," I said as I placed a hand at his cheek. He smirked as I shifted my weight to get closer to his torso. I fiddled with the buttons of his shirt, teasing him. "Please tell me where my friends are," I whispered into his ear.

I felt his hands tighten around my waist, digging in hard enough to make me pull away a bit, but he pulled me even closer, letting out a groan as I moved against him.

"Persuade me, Love," he whispered back.

-Loki-

"I have a meeting, Love," Loki said in between kisses. The two had been on the couch longer than he had anticipated and he needed to go.

"Have. I. Persuaded. you enough?" his wife purred as she kissed his neck. He closed his eyes as he grabbed her elbows and pulled her up to meet his gaze.

"You did a wonderful job, Darling, but I really must be going."

Something flickered in her gaze. "Please." Was she actually begging? "Loki… I have to see them."

Loki rolled his eyes as he stood up, setting her down gently on the couch. "Always searching, aren't we, dear? Why can't you just be happy I have not killed them?"

Veronica's gaze retained the same, pleading look. "Loki. I don't know _what_ you have done to them." Loki stood up, but she grabbed his hand. "Stay," she said softly. Her warm flesh was hot against his cool palm. "I am afraid."

With a roll of his eyes, he pulled her up from the couch and kissed her again, long and hard. "Afraid of what?" he gasped out, pleased to find her breathing had quickened as well.

"Magneto threatened me, Loki. I know you don't believe me, but-"

"Sweetheart, I highly doubt you have anything to worry about. You are safe with me."

"But Rose-"

"Do not go there again, please," he said. There was no politeness in his tone. "She will make a fine heir, but I feel she must prove herself. You will understand when this is all over."

"When what's over?" Veronica asked.

"What have I been telling you about?" he asked, exasperated. "No matter, there are still humans out there that need… attending to. Mutants as well. Your Wolverine friend for starters. But it never occurred to me that you would know where they are." He pulled Veronica in so they were nose to nose. "Where are the X-men hiding?"

Something was shifting in Veronica's eyes. "I- I don't know. I couldn't find it if I tried."

She was lying. Loki knew it, but he didn't push her further. What he had in store for her next would make her come around. He would allow her to think she had won for the time being. He gave her one last kiss.

Her hands slipped to his chest, taking hold of the fabric of his shirt, pulling him into her and deepening the kiss. Her hands travelled to his hair, leaving it mussed when he pulled away. "I will be back tonight," he promised. "Stay here."

He was really running late now. He needed to get to the meeting. He smoothed his hair, his skin ever so slightly flushed from their encounter, and turned to walk towards the door. Veronica sat back down on the couch, arms crossed and gazing out the window. The sunlight made the red in her hair stand out even more and it framed her face at it fell in waves over her shoulders, stopping just at her breasts... What if he just didn't show up….

With a shake of his head he left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

Veronica shifted in her seat, lifting up one of the cushions that had been under them. She allowed herself a smirk as she pulled the set of keys that had been in Loki's breast pocket out from under the pillow.

ooOOoo

Mr. Laufeyson," Magneto said as Loki stepped through the doors several minutes later. "Glad you could join us, sir."

Loki nodded to him curtly as he took his place at the head of the table. Mystique sat to his left, Magneto to his right. A line of mutants sat at the rest of the spots of the table, but Loki was unable to identify any of them by name. One of them, however, looked extremely familiar. A woman, with short brown hair and mirrored aviators sat at the far end, arms crossed as she took everything in.

Loki disregarded her the moment Magneto began his report. "We have lost all contact with the mutant known as Victor, last seen in one of the eastern villages. This is in need of correcting as he was our main source of command in Eastern Europe."

Loki nodded, tracing his bottom lip with his finger in thought… and cringing when it hit a spot that Veronica had bit down on earlier. How could that infernal woman _still_ get under his skin even when he was out of her presence. _Love,_ he decided_. Love would do that to a man._

"Proceed," he said curtly.

Magneto continued on, speaking of each of the regions that had been secured whether by force or by surrender. Loki was impressed, despite himself.

"So, with all of this being said, Brothers, we are ready to finally commence the final phase of this magnificent plan."

Magneto looked to Loki as he said this. "Lord Loki, are you prepared for your part in this?"

"My daughter's part, you mean," Loki said quickly. "Yes. I have not presented the idea to her but I am sure she will be most pleased with her role." The woman at the end of the table raised an eyebrow over the rims of her sunglasses.

"Excellent," Magneto said as he clapped his hands together. "Then this meeting is dismissed. Date and time for the final phase shall be set within twenty-four hours."

Loki slumped in his seat as everyone else got up to leave. Magneto stopped walking to face Loki. "Mr. Laufeyson, are you quite well?"

Loki looked up, placing the hand that had been covering his forehead flat on the table in front of him. "I need a word with you," he said.

Magneto nodded. "Of course. How can I help?"

Loki inhaled. "My wife seems to think you have threatened her in some way… and that you have reason to believe that this machine could hurt my daughter."

Magneto seemed to deliberate for a moment. "Mr. Laufeyson," he said as he took a seat. "I was afraid this might happen should you bring a… less than brotherhood quality queen into this."

Anger flashed through Loki like ice. "How dare-"

Magneto stopped him by putting up a hand. "Allow me to finish, please." When Loki stopped talking, the old man continued. "Tell me, was that your wife I saw attempting to escape earlier today with your daughter?"

Loki remained quiet. He had not intended on letting anyone know about that.

"Do you really think, Mr. Laufeyson, that you can contain one such as her forever? She wishes not to be here. She will find a way to escape eventually. She will be your destruction, Mr. Laufeyson. Whatever obsession you have for this woman-"

"Some call it love," Loki said dangerously.

"Very well, whatever _love _youhold for this woman, will be the key factor in the crumbling of all our plans. I assure you. She is a thorn in the side of our cause. She serves as a distraction to your duties, as proven today." Magneto indicated to Loki's rumpled shirt and still messy hair. How had Loki let himself present himself in this way?

Loki glared at the old man. But he knew what he said was true. Veronica was a strong-willed woman that would do what it took to achieve what- in her eyes- was right.

"What do you propose I do?" Loki said. It was nearly a growl.

~Veronica~

After Loki left, I went straight for his wardrobe. I needed pants not the flimsy dress materials he had given me. to my delight, I found a pair that actually fit me, though they were a bit long. I rolled them up at the ends, and ended tucking them into my boots. My boots had been the only things of mine that I had salvaged. I found one of his white button-down shirts, slipped it on and turned to face the mirror. Well, I had always gone for function over fashion anyways…

I slipped the keys to the dungeons into my pocket and left the bedchambers quickly. I looked left then right down the marble hallways, then took off towards the huge staircase I had seen upon arrival.

Before I could get to the stairs, however, I ran smack dab into someone as I rounded a corner.

"Hey," Carter McIntyre's voice rang out in a harsh whisper. "Watch-" Then she realized it was me. She took off her mirrored aviators, her neon green eyes glowing in the semi-dark hallway I had pulled us into to avoid detection.

"Carter?" I hissed. "What are you doing here?"

The girl grinned from ear to ear. "Pretty sweet, huh? Got a deal as a double agent- wait… what are you doing here?"

"A double agent for who?" I asked quietly.

Carter rolled her eyes as she put the glasses back on. "Who do you think? SHIELD, of course. When the tower fell-"

"Shh." I said, cutting her off. We froze as two guards walked past. She didn't start talking until the echoes of the echoes of the guard's footsteps went away.

"The tower fell and we were thrown into disarray. No one knew where you or Rose were- oh and I have a story to tell you about her and Loki by the way- And we went into hiding. A few days ago, Clint and Tasha went missing, so I came out of my hole to investigate."

"I know where they are," I said quietly as I pulled the keys I had taken from Loki out of my pocket. "They're here. Do you know where the prison cells are?"

Carter let out a snort. "Do I know where the prison cells are? I can damn sure find out, now can't I?"

I smiled. "These'll get you in. I'm not sure who else he has, but you'll find out I am sure."

Carter nodded, giving me a little half salute. "But you're coming too, right?"

I shook my head. "I need to stay with Rose. I can't get her away from here just yet."

Carter crossed her arms. "Okay, V. I'll get the team out. But we'll be back. As far as Rose… well, I take it you know what he's planning with her?"

"The machine?" I asked quietly. Carter nodded.

"Yeah. I am fully aware. I'm… I'm working on it."

"I know you are. You'll do fine. We'll be back soon. Don't kick too much ass while we're out," the agent grinned again, knocking me playfully on the arm. "There's a lot more hope for the rebelion than Loki would have you believe," she added seriously.

"I'll try not to," I said, smiling back in the first genuine smile that had crossed my lips since coming here.

ooOOoo

I slipped back into the bedchambers to find an even darker room than the one I had left minutes before. I barely noticed, though, as I walked over to Loki's wardrobe, stripping as I went in an attempt to change as quickly as possible.

A voice from the shadows nearly stopped my heart in its tracks. It was coming from the bed. "My Little Veronica, what do you think you are doing dressed in _that?_"

* * *

><p><strong>Oh snap. Haha what's she gotten herself into now? Please review, guys! <strong>

**Also, didn't want to give anything away in the beginning, but I don't own Carter McIntyre either. She belongs to MacnMeez :D **


	26. Chapter 26

**Don't. Own. Marvel. :/**

* * *

><p>"<em>Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"<em>

_~Jack Nicholson as The Joker_

* * *

><p>-Loki-<p>

Magneto had prompted Loki to move the use of the machine's power to a date even closer than what it had been. Loki had agreed with the old man, sensing the same thing would be necessary to ensure Veronica's devotion to the cause. Whenever all of her friends were dead, and all her hope was gone, he was sure she would turn back to him for her own safety, if not for Rose's.

Only after Loki was given Erik's word that Rose would not be harmed did he agree with the old man to have a small demonstration on a select group of humans. The old world leaders that they had managed to capture would work quite well as an example to the rest of their pathetic race.

But now, as he looked at his wife dressed in _his_ clothes, he could not help but wonder exactly what she thought she was doing. She did not know where the dungeons were in the palace and he was quite certain she would not have gone gallivanting around without a proper reason. She was too scared of Magneto.

"I am waiting, Love," he said as he stretched his feet out in front of him on the bed and placed his hands behind his head for support. No smile flickered on his face.

"I-I…" Veronica stammered, unable to find words. So she had been up to something she didn't want him knowing about. Then a thought occurred to him.

Never taking his eyes from her, he brought a hand down to reach for the keys in his breast pocket. He let out a sigh of irritation when he found them missing. "Sly, aren't we, darling?" he said disdainfully as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and walked over to her slowly.

Veronica's eyes were wide, obviously unsure of what he was going to do. "Where are the keys? Did you have any luck finding your friends?"

His malicious grin that seemed to spread from one ear to the other made Veronica shiver. "No," she said quietly, weakly.

"Come now, dear, hand them over," he said playfully. "We'll just have to punish you a bit is all." He wrapped an arm around her waist, leaning in to nibble at her ear.

She shrugged out of his reach. "I don't have them," she said, stronger now.

"Do not play with me," he said warningly. "Not with something like this."

"I'm not, Loki. I don't have the keys." Then a smile touched her lips this time. "And by the time you get them, it will be too late."

Loki's fist flew before he could stop himself. It collided with the left side of her face, turning her head into her shoulder from the recoil. She knocked her hair from her eyes. "Care to explain?" he said lethally.

She glared at him. "Find out yourself, Lover."

Loki let out a growl. "It will not matter soon anyhow. The time is coming very soon when Rose will finish the rest of this world. Keep that in mind, Veronica. But your actions here just may have forced my hand into even swifter action."

Without another word, Loki teleported from the bedchambers, leaving Veronica alone once again. This time, however, he locked the bedroom door, placing a magical enchantment on it to seal her within.

~Veronica~

I could feel the blood rising in my cheek from where Loki had slapped me. I blinked back the involuntary tears that threatened to spring angrily. Carter was right. I needed to get out of here… and Rose. Rose didn't have long by the looks of it either.

I rammed into the doors of the bedroom angrily, trying to break through the magical barrier that Loki had put up. Nothing worked. In a burst of frustration, I rammed myself against the wood hard enough to hear a pop in my shoulder. A flash of pain shot up my right arm, ending somewhere within my shoulder socket.

I threw my head back in exasperation, trying to shake out the pain in my arm. I sat down on the bed, trying to contain my panic. I think I felt every emotion possible in those moments.

I didn't realize I had fallen asleep…

_In my dream, I was sitting at a long table, very similar to the one back at Avenger's Tower. I tried to get up, but I couldn't, and I felt as though my feet were glued to the floor. _

_ Then a deep, extremely creepy laugh pulled me from my struggles. I hadn't heard that laugh in over a year. _

_ Oberon vaporized across the table from me, arms crossed and looking at me disdainfully. "Miss Parker," he said by way of greeting. I tried very hard not to scream. _

_ "You- you're dead. You're not supposed to-"_

_ "Do not worry, you silly girl. I am quite dead thanks to your lover." I let out a small breath. _

_ "Then how are you here?" I asked shakily. I tried to get up, but couldn't. _

_ "I summoned you to this state to share a few words of wisdom with you. Do not mistake this for kindness. To be quite frank, I would kill you in a heartbeat if I had the chance. But, seeing as I am merely a shadow now, I will have to settle for targeting Loki in other ways." My eyes expressed my confusion. "Yes. I know you are unhappy with him. I always told him you were afraid of what he truly was. He should have just joined me. It would have saved the two of you a lot of pain, now wouldn't it?"_

_ "Shut up." I had to believe that what Loki was doing he saw as right in his warped mind._

_ "I am giving you a chance to knock him back down to size," Oberon said quietly. My brow wrinkled even more. "Do not play stupid. You know quite well what needs to be done. What will have to be done to ensure he loses power."_

_ Was he insinuating I kill Loki? I couldn't be sure. _

_ "Yes, Miss Parker, that is exactly what I am saying," Oberon said evilly. He had read my thoughts. This could very well be a trick. Oberon hated Loki. Of course he would want him dead… but he also hated me. Would he be willing to make a pact with me if he had another option? This situation was getting too weird…_

_ "You think I have not considered that?" I said quietly. _

_ "I know you have considered it, yet you lack the conviction to do it." _

_ I closed my eyes. He was the father of my child. How could I kill him? But then again, he didn't seem to be worried about said child or me for that matter. I had been a prisoner here from the moment I set foot in his palace. _

_ Oberon was studying my reaction to what he was saying. "So, Veronica, do we have a deal?" _

_ "We might if I had any idea what you wanted me to do…"_

_ Oberon chuckled without mirth. "I offer you a bit of my own power to really give your lover a run for his money. It will also help you in your battle against Magneto. I believe I have caught word from my place in the shadowlands that he is Loki's new partner?" I kept glaring at the sorcerer. "My offer will not last forever, Miss Parker. Take it now or risk Loki's full ascension to power… and the life of your daughter._

_ I didn't want this. I didn't want anything to do with this sorcerer. He was worse than Loki._Or maybe,_ I thought. _I only find him worse because I am not blinded by love for him.

_ I bit my lip, thinking. "What do you want me to do?" _

_ Oberon got up quickly before grabbing my wrist that bore Loki's mark. I couldn't help but notice that as he moved signs of the shriveled mummy he had turned into at his death surfaced in his face. He pressed two, scorching hot fingers directly above the mark of Loki's lips, searing the skin in the form of a tiny upside down star right in the hollow where my palm met my forearm. _

_ "Gah!" I let out a little gasp when he pulled his hands away roughly. _

_ He smirked, his face now really starting to crack. "Power comes with a price, does it not?" he said quietly. I looked up at him. "Ensure you use it well. I want that little snake to burn." _

_ Before I could say anything else, I woke up to someone calling my name._

_ooOOoo_

"Mom?" I opened my eyes wide to hear a voice that sounded startlingly similar to my own.

I turned my head from the pillow I was laying on to see Rose standing in the doorway to the bathroom. She had aged another five years, now looking like she was fifteen. I couldn't have been asleep _that_ long…

"Rose?" I said quietly. "How-"

She shrugged. "Sorry. It just kind of… happened overnight. Loki- Dad- said that it was normal…"

I got up and went over to give her a hug. "How did you get in here? How long was I… asleep?" If you could call what I had just gone through sleeping. Sure enough the mark on my wrist was still there, bright and red. I pulled Loki's shirt further over it.

"A day, actually," she said answering my last question. My head swam. A few days? Had Carter made it out before Loki could catch her? "My teleporting skills have developed a bit more now that I'm older. Loki's been… helping me."

"Is that right?" I said suspiciously. "What else has he told you?"

She shrugged again, running her fingers through her long black hair. Her blue eyes flashed. "Just the basics. I think he wants me to trust him a bit more."

"Do you?" I asked quietly.

She bit her lip, thinking, a characteristic that she must have gotten from me. "I'm not sure anymore, Mom. He's been… good to me. I always thought he'd be evil. After what I saw him do to you when I was… little." She must have been thinking of the hallway in SHIELD headquarters.

"He is evil, sweetheart. Don't let him fool you." I said it vehemently. "Don't trust him. He's going to try to use you to overtake Earth completely. You can't let him."

She nodded, tossing her hair from her eyes again. "He did mention something about that…"

I raised an eyebrow.

"He said all it would take to make us a happy family again would be for me to do this one thing and-"

"Rose, don't listen to him!" I sounded hysterical. "Did he tell you you could die?"

Rose's eyes went wide. "No…"

"Rose, please, don't take his word. Trust me." I took her hand, now almost as big as mine and tucked her dark hair behind her ear.

She chewed her lip… before the doors to the bedchamber opened and Loki came striding in.

"Are we a bit better, now, Dear?" he asked me. "Are our priorities a bit straighter?" he walked up to me and cupped my chin in his hand. "Your friends seem to be back in line. You should follow their example."

I felt Oberon's magic rear up inside me… like a snake. I glared at him, pushing Rose behind me. "How dare you-"

"Ah-ah-ah, we wouldn't want to fight in front of our daughter now, would we? It sets a terrible example."

"And so does mass-murdering the human race," I replied quickly. Loki's eyes flickered with annoyance before turning to Rose. Magneto walked in on our little family conversation before I could say anything else.

"Rose, I believe we are ready for the test runs of the machine if you care to join us." Magneto spoke kindly to her. I wanted to vomit.

Rose looked at me. "Mom, I'm going with him." Something wasn't right here. She didn't WANT to go. She just was…

"Rosie. No," I said quickly. I looked to Loki. "Please, Loki, don't make her do this!" I started struggling to get past him to Rose, who had walked over to stand by Magneto's side. Loki looped his hand around my arm, holding me back with brute strength. I had nothing when it came to fighting against his strength. But then something happened that made Loki recoil instantly.

The minute his skin made contact with mine, a hissing sound accompanied by smoke rose from the point of contact. He withdrew before looking my in the eye and grabbing me by the collar of the shirt I was wearing. I kicked at him, making him let go again.

Rose and Magneto were gone now, probably on their way to the machine as I fought Loki. "Rose!" I screamed aloud, begging for her to hear me. "Don't listen to them!"

Loki called in several guards and they surrounded me. "Don't make a scene, Veronica, please." He was looking at me seriously. No humor marked that beautiful face that I loved and hated and just wanted to burn.

With that last thought, a puff of fire appeared in front of his face. He extinguished it quickly with a bit of ice. "Where did you-"

"Rose!" I screamed, taking advantage of his distraction. I ran at one of the guards, trying to dive past them, but they caught me… and this time, I didn't burn them on contact_. Shit._

I was able to make out a few words that Loki was saying through my sobs. The main one was 'dungeons'.

I kicked, clawed, and kneed the guards, but in the end it did no good. They carried me, kicking and screaming down flights of stairs.

Loki remained in his rooms.

ooOOoo

What felt like a lifetime later I was thrown into a vaulted room. The odor of human suffering reached my nostrils and I gagged from a mixture of being so upset and the stench. I threw up right there, not even stepping off to the side… and onto a pair of really tattered, but obviously expensive shoes.

"Ahh, Sunshine, what is it with you and throwing up all over my good shoes?"

Tony Stark's voice brought me from my stupor and I looked up.


	27. Chapter 27

**Don't own Marvel.**

* * *

><p>"<em>I want your horror. I want your design.<em>

_Cuz you're a criminal as long as your mine'_

_~'Bad Romance' by Lady Gaga_

* * *

><p>~Veronica~<p>

I was pulled to my feet by a strong pair of hands. I looked around the dark room, battling dizziness and the darkness. Eventually, my eyes adjusted to the dark and I was able to make out three figures. No… four.

Natasha, Hawkeye, Bruce, and Tony all were looking at me. The pair of hands that had lifted me up had been Hawkeye.

"Glad you decided to join us," Tony said casually, scratching at his unkempt beard. "He's moved Fury, Storm, and Carter into the next room. As far as I know that's all who is here."

I swallowed hard, wiping vomit onto the sleeve of Loki's shirt from my mouth. I tried to pull my thoughts together. "So Carter… she didn't get you guys out of here then."

Tony shrugged. "She tried. Loki caught up with us just as she was undoing the door. She's lucky he didn't kill her. He was really, really pissed off."

I allowed myself a slight smile. "That would be my doing," I said quietly. "But we HAVE to get out of here, guys. He's using Rose to power that machine thing."

Tasha's eyes widened. "What machine? Not the one Magneto tried to use a few years back, though, right?"

I looked at her. How did she know about this?

As if she read my thoughts, she explained. "I was working with the X-men initiative when all that crap went down in New York a few years ago. Fury sent me to help out a bit, keep the politicians safe." She rolled her eyes in the darkness.

I bit my lip. "Have you tried getting out of here at all?"

Tony looked like he wanted to jump me. "Of course we've tried to get outa here. I don't know about these guys," he said as he threw a thumb over his shoulder, "But Tony Stark doesn't just sit around waiting to be rescued."

Natasha rolled her eyes again and Clint actually chuckled. I looked over at Bruce who was looking a little green- no pun intended.

"What about the Hulk?" I said quietly, desperately. "No one's tried to make him mad?"

"Loki put a spell on me to keep me from hulking up. Sorry," Bruce said awkwardly. He really did look sick, though.

A spell? Wait a second. I had spells of my own now that Oberon had made that pact with me. Maybe…

"You guys may wanna stand back," I said suddenly as I walked right up to Bruce… and slapped the poor guy across the face, concentrating very hard on sending the same evil energy I had felt when I was mad at Loki straight into Bruce.

"Ouch… what was that-" At that moment, Bruce's pupils narrowed to tiny dots and he started shaking all over.

"Get back!" I ordered as I positioned myself into a corner behind Bruce. Everyone tried to follow suit. My little trick had worked. Loki hadn't counted on magic jolting Bruce back into the Hulk state.

I heard Tony saying something about how it was about time someone pissed Bruce off, an explosion of rubble, and then the sound of big, heavy footsteps thudding down the hallway and back towards the stairs that I had come down when the guards had brought me here.

Clint was coughing up dust, sheltering Natasha from the falling rubble that Bruce- er the Hulk- had left behind when he had broken through the cell doors. Natasha quickly pushed Clint away when she regained her bearings, her face red. I turned to Tony.

"Where do you think he's headed?" I asked.

Tony shrugged. "Probably towards Loki, I would imagine. He took a lot of experimentation from that bastard and the assholes he calls his army."

I shook my head sadly. "Where's your suit?"

Stark shrugged. "Hell if I know. I haven't even been out of these clothes since I got here. Loki's probably got it locked up somewhere."

I nodded. "It's probably for the best. Magneto would have a hay day with that metal suit if you got anywhere near him in it."

I turned to Clint and Natasha, addressing Tony as well. "Perhaps it would be best if Tony, Fury, and Carter get out of here and call in reinforcements. In the meantime, the three of us can get to Rose."

Natasha cocked her head to the side as Clint agreed. Tony glared at me. "Oh no. I am staying here."

"Tony, seriously. What can you do without that suit? Be reasonable," Clint said quickly. "At least Tasha and me can kick ass without weapons. You on the other hand… well, without your toys you'll get yourself killed."

By this point I had made it to the other cell, kicking the control pad off the wall and opening the doors quickly. "Parker?" Fury's voice reached my ears as he stumbled out with Carter, an arm draped over her shoulder for support. He was walking with a limp and his eye patch was askew.

"Hi-ya, V!" Carter said quickly. "Knew you wouldn't let us down."

And together, we formed a plan that would be good enough to win against Loki.

-Loki-

"Dad," Rose's worried voice called out to Loki as he glanced over the last minute preparations for the test run. Loki turned back to his daughter … who was being chained to the machine.

"What are you doing?" he demanded as he went up and knocked the mutant that had been attending to her out of the way. "She is not a prisoner!"

Magneto emerged from the shadows. "Mr. Laufeyson, it is necessary."

Loki frowned. "I doubt it." With a swipe of his hand, he released the chains that restrained Rose's wrist.

"I'm not too comfortable with this, Dad," she said quietly. "It- The metal almost burns me." she whispered the last part.

Loki looked over to Magneto. "It burns her?" He waited for Magneto to explain.

"The chemicals used to conduct your powers may be slightly uncomfortable, Rose, but other than that you are fine." Magneto seemed so at ease…

Rose shook her head. "No. It burns my… aura? Powers? I don't know how to describe it exactly. This machine creates death…"

Magneto nodded. "But it is necessary for the cleansing of this world anew, my dear." He waved a hand to the humans that were being held below them, waiting for their doom.

Rose bit her lip. "It creates death," she repeated. "Not just for humans… for… others too. It will mess up the balance of this realm."

Loki rolled his eyes. "Please, Rose, just do this one thing for me and then we can be a family. I'll bet even Mom will want to join us then. Think how proud she'll be!"

Rose shook her head. "It'll kill me too. I feel it."

Before Loki could say anything else, the roar of a beast shook the floor of the balcony he was standing on, causing the machine to tremble slightly.

~Veronica~

"Alright," Fury said as he hobbled off with an angry Stark. "Barton, Parker, Romanoff. You get up to the upper levels and stop the machine. Carter, you're coming with me and Tony for protection."

Carter rolled her green eyes as she took off, following Fury. Storm was with them as well. She was going with them to help find the coordinates that Xavier's school was located in. I turned back to the two assassins.

"Hopefully they'll make it out okay," I said as we took off on the path Bruce had left.

"Pretty sure the Hulk will be keeping what's left of Loki's army distracted enough for them to escape," Clint said quickly. "But it would help an awful lot if Tasha and me had our weapons. You wouldn't happen to know where he has 'em, do you?"

I racked my brain, thinking of any place I would have seen the archer's bow. I came up empty. "Sorry. He didn't exactly let me see what was going on when it came to you guys."

"Little Twit," Barton muttered.

We were in the main hall by now, peeking around one of the massive pillars that framed it. I counted two guards unconscious from Bruce's rampage. I suppressed a smile. They had it coming after all…

"I think we're good," I said turning back to Clint and… an empty place where Natasha had been.

Clint shrugged. "She said she wanted to get going and… you weren't moving fast enough for her."

I rolled my eyes. "She headed on?" Clint nodded. "Fine, maybe she can get Rose unhooked before we even get there."

Hawkeye suppressed a laugh as he thumped me on the back. "Woah there, Parker, Don't get bitter on me now."

I gave him a sarcastic smile which quickly turned to a frown as a blast shook the floor of the palace. No… it was a roar.

"Sounds like the Hulk has found Loki," Hawkeye said with a grin.

We took off running then, not bothering with sneaking around anymore. We were going to finish this. I could only hope Fury would get the X-men in here in time.

* * *

><p><strong>This chapter was a lot shorter than usual! I apologize, guys! Seriously. I had the toughest time getting it out. Next chapter we will see more of the angst and action you all know me for, so… hopefully it'll make up for this one? I have also kind of started another story that is itching to be written. I may break down and add another chapter here sooner or later. IT's called "Deep and Derk and Dangerous" for those interested and it'll be more of an Asgard fanfic. :D But no worries, I intend to finish this one before i get too involved. I want to finish this little saga before i see the Avengerss on May 4. (No spoilers from those lucky people that get to see it tomoro!) ;) <strong>

**~Sirius **


	28. Chapter 28

**_Don't own Marvel_**

* * *

><p><em>"And it was not your fault but mine<em>

_and it was your heart on the line_

_I really fucked it up this time,_

_Didn't I, my Dear? "_

_~'LittleLion Man' by Mumford and Sons_

* * *

><p>-Loki-<p>

The Incredible Hulk barged through the double doors that led to the outer courtyard, a guttural roar bursting from its chest. Loki stared at it, absolute disbelief written all over his face. The Hulk saw where the humans were, but, oddly enough, did not attack them. It turned its attention to Loki. Gods, Loki had just made eye contact with that monster… and it was heading straight for the platform.

With an irritated huff, he teleported away from the platform, landing behind the Hulk. The green giant, taking a moment to register what had happened, spun around to face Loki. "Come and meet your doom, Doctor," Loki said evilly, taunting the thing before him as he stretched a bit of magic across his palms in small waves of static energy.

As the Hulk ran straight for Loki, Loki's attention was distracted by the image of his daughter, being rechained to the machine by Magneto… obviously against her will. Before Loki could get to her, the Hulk swung a huge fist directly into Loki, knocking the god of mischief against a brick wall.

~Veronica~

Hawkeye and I raced down the halls, trying to get to the courtyard as quickly as possible. We rounded corner after corner. How had Banner gotten away so fast? I figured having feet and legs twice the size of a normal human probably helped with the speed factor. Especially when said giant was _pissed_.

We rounded another corner… and I felt a fist swing into my face before a firm hand took me by the throat. Hawkeye, who had come up behind me, let out a curse to see long fingernails grow from my captor's hand and aim fixedly at my throat. Not this again. Victor Creed was about to kill me.

"Hey there, sweetheart," he said through his grin. "Gave me quite a hard time back in that village, you did. Figured I had to show up to return the favor."

Hawkeye leaped at the mutant, fists raised, but a blue-bodied woman intercepted him out of nowhere.

"How- how'd you get- out of the bunker?" I gasped out.

Victor actually laughed at me. "It's not that hard. Your X-men are pretty pathetic, really. I escaped a few days ago, thanks to Mystique here."

The blue woman smiled as she held Hawkeye pinned to the ground, straddling his waist and keeping his hands pinned to his sides. I struggled a bit. "But it seems you've fallen pretty far from your husband's good graces." Victor continued. I only wanted to punch him more, a near impossible feat when he had his claws at my throat. "Here soon the bunker should be over run, I'd wager."

I thought of Bobby, of Logan. Logan! How had Logan let Victor get out of there?

A blast shook the palace walls, making dust rain down on us. I coughed a bit- partially from the dust, but mainly from the chokehold I was in.

And then I felt it. The snake surged up inside me like it had against Loki. I reared back, causing my body to emit a static shock. The magic seemed to be magnifying my powers. Victor stumbled backwards, stunned. Mystique had very little time to react before a black-suited Natasha came charging into her. The Black Widow was back… and with weapons!

She and the mutant went at it. Natasha got in several good hits, keeping the mutant away from her. she produced a knife from seemingly out of nowhere, slashing at the mutant. That was all I had time to register, though, because Victor was charging back towards me.

I stepped to the side, figuring evasion to be the best tactic. Natasha had gotten weapons from somewhere, and I was willing to bet my boots that Carter or Tony had made it to a communications tower to radio in the X-men using the coordinates I had given them.

"V!" Natasha said as she took a hit to the head from Mystique's incredibly long, incredibly flexible legs. "Get. To. The main room!"

Main room? My momentary lapse of coherent thought allowed Victor to get a scratch into my left arm… he would have run me through if Hawkeye hadn't stopped the blow. "Veronica," Hawkeye said as he twisted his arm up and caused the mutant to let go. Victor pulled back for a second. "Listen to her. Get. Weapons!" he spoke as he blocked Victor's throws.

I nodded… and didn't give Victor the chance to follow me as I took off towards the main room that led to the front entrance.

I heard the unmistakable banging against the doors of Loki's palace as I neared them. I raced up to them, using my Oberon's power to unlock them. All at once, a disgruntled Captain America came charging through the doors as if he had been about ram into the wood again…. And then he landed directly on top of me.

I opened my eyes, unable to see anything but the blue of his armor. I couldn't breathe!

"Good. To see- you too… Steve!" I gasped out.

Steve looked down at me. "Oh!" his face went bright red, starting at his cheeks and stretching all the way to the tips of his ears. "Veronica?" he said startled as he helped me up awkwardly. "SHIELD was under the impression you were dead."

I shrugged. "I thought you were dead too," I confessed. "Where are the-"

I was interrupted by a mass of mutants charging past us. I was able to pick out Bobby and Storm, but that was it. There had to have been at least twenty.

"Well, that answers that," I muttered. Logan was the last to slink in, and he stopped when he saw me.

"Figured you be alright," he said gruffly. I smiled.

"Nice to know I'm loved," I replied. A smile didn't flicker on Logan's face. "Victor's in the ballroom if you are interested," I added. Logan's nostrils flared.

"You can be damn sure I'm interested," he said as his claws shot out of his knuckles. "The bastard escaped too easily." And with that, Logan stalked off, no doubt following his nose after his brother.

"Is Thor-"

"Thor's fine," Steve said quickly. "He and Jane touched base with us after the y got the poison out of his system. He's gone back to Asgard to get the army his father had promised to provide."

I nodded. "And Jane?"

"She traveled with him. He said he wanted her out of the realm given her… condition."

I smiled. "Sounds familiar," I said.

"Only Jane knows to do as she's told," Steve replied in jest. Wait, Steve could joke?

"Well, girls who behave rarely make history," I said, quoting one of my favorite sayings. Steve scrunched his brows together.

"Where's Rose?" he asked hesitantly.

"Loki's got her. I needed my weapons before I could save her. Tasha said you had them."

Steve nodded, producing a loaded pistol from his belt. "It's made out of some sort of metal alloy that can't be affected by Magneto's powers. Xavier developed them shortly after Thor first made contact."

I nodded, grasping the handle. Its weight felt reassuring as I clutched it. I rolled up the sleeves of Loki's shirt to my elbows, tucking the tail into my the pants to reduce the possibility of getting snagged on something. "Let's win this world back," I said defiantly, hearing the satisfying click of the bullet slipping into the chamber. I secured a few clips by tucking them into the waistband of my pants. Loki's pants did not have pockets. Didn't they have pockets in Asgard?

Before I could take another step, though, a few of Loki's guards came rushing at us. How they had escaped the fray, I had no idea. All I knew was that they were heading straight for us… and I wasn't prepared.

Steve was able to knock one down with his shield, while I pulled a spin- kick into the one that was coming at me. A few more showed up, holding us at gunpoint. "Arms up," I heard the squad leader say.

Steve complied. I looked around, raising my hands as well. I made it to Steve. "Captain," I said quietly as the guards advanced. "You may want to get down. NOW!" With blinding speed, I knocked Steve's feet out from under him, trying to keep him as far out of the way as possible. Before any fingers could pull the triggers of the guns that were trained on us, I had out lashed a bunch of fire, summoning it from Oberon's power. The snake I had felt earlier lashed out, incinerating the guards on contact. Steve's shield was the only thing that saved him.

"BlackLite?" Steve said shakily. "What the heck was that?"

Before I could tell Steve, though, I doubled over in pain. Excruciating pain. My insides felt like they were on fire, like the snake was gnawing on my heart and its venom was soaking through. I let out a scream- not the girly kind, but the kind that meant I was in serious shit.

-Loki-

Loki shook his head in an effort to clear it as the Hulk came at him again. He had been slung against the wall a total of three times, each time unable to get up before the Hulk came at him again. With a roll of his eyes, he brought his hands out in front of him to summon his powers.

"Freeze," Loki muttered. When he looked up again, the green giant had frozen in place, arms raised as he had come at him again. The Hulk's eyes darted around comically, but Loki did not take the time to laugh or glance again at the image.

His attention was completely captured by the machine... Because Rose was in her original chained position and Magneto was at the control panels, waiting for Loki to come back to begin the process.

This time, Loki noticed the tears that were falling down Rose's cheeks.


	29. Chapter 29

**_Don't opwn Marvel. Still._**

* * *

><p><em>"I don't wanna change the world, I just want to leave it colder.<em>

_Light the fuse and burn it up, Take the path that leads to nowhere."_

_~'I Will Not Bow' by Breaking Benjamin_

* * *

><p>~Veronica~<p>

Pain. Burning Pain. That was all I knew. All I cared about at that particular point and time. I did not notice Steve lifting me from the fetal position I had taken at his feet. I didn't notice the battle that was undoubtedly going on around me. All I knew was that that damned power was in my blood, burning my being, my soul.

And then the darkness took me…

_"Impressive, my dear, to say the least," Oberon's voice reached my ears again as I opened my eyes. _

_ "What did you do to me?" I asked. My voice was stronger than I had thought._

_ He chuckled. "Your body possesses the power of Thor. Surely you did not think there would not be physical repercussions for obtaining evil power."_

_ I blinked. "You have to be kidding me."_

_ He shook his head. "No, sadly for you, I am not. I gave you the power to defeat your lover, yet you did not ask what would become of you. As of right now, Miss Parker, you are dying."_

_ I didn't do anything. All I could do was look at that bastard and let the hate seep through. He was worse than Loki. This sadistic shadow of a man was so keen on getting revenge on both of us that he was willing to do this. _

_ "Although I must say, I had expected your body to hold up through battling Loki. I will admit I am a bit surprised with that one."_

_ I rolled my eyes. "He'll be defeated sooner or later. With or without my help."_

_ Oberon laughed again. "Oh, but watching you two fight it out will be so much sweeter! I am not ready to kill you just yet, Miss Parker."_

_ "How kind of you." I didn't know why I was so emboldened in the face of my own death, but I was._

_ "You do need to wake up now, though. Your friends are waiting for you." _

_ I crossed my arms. "Like you care."_

_ Oberon smirked. "Head on, Veronica." It gave me chills to hear him say my name- and not the kind of chills I got when Loki said my name. These were chills of disgust. "Just remember you are dying."_

_ooOOoo_

"Veronica? VERONICA?" I heard someone saying my name as I woke up in Steve's arms. He was running down the hall. "Don't go to sleep on me," Steve said, slipping into triage mode.

I felt much better. Whatever sleep state I had been in had eased the burning in my heart and chest. "I'm awake. You can put me down now."

Steve set me down on the floor as I looked around. I was able to make out Logan and Natasha battling it out with Victor. From the looks of it, they were winning.

Mystique was nowhere to be seen. I turned back to Steve. "What are the orders, Captain?"

"We get to Rose."

-Loki-

Before Loki could react to the awful scene before him, the doors opened yet again and a whole army presented itself. It took Loki a whole millisecond more to realize that it was, in fact, not HIS army. All of the mutants that were pouring in had on mismatched garb, rags, some were even naked. A girl with fairy wings flew through the doors, attempting to knock him down in the process.

He grabbed her by the ankle and slung her down, letting a hellhound jump on top of her. Ruthlessly, he turned back to the machine. He did not have time for this! He had to get to his daughter and now these stupid rebels were getting in his way…

Loki was not stupid when it came to military strategy. He knew that his castle was being overrun. That did not mean he wouldn't fight… and it did not mean he would let any traitor get away with this.

His eyes took their normal, Jotuhn form and he noticed his skin turn icy blue as he took off into the battle, cutting, slashing, and kicking his way to Rose.

~Veronica~

We had gotten to the balcony by the time things really started to heat up. I was feeling fine, if not a bit woozy. My chest still burned, but that was it. I knew I didn't have long, though. Every time I used Oberon's powers I was testing my own self-destruct button. I zoned in instantly on Loki. He was fighting Bobby, the two exchanging icy blasts. His red eyes were glowing and his blue skin stood out.

Rose was chained to the machine. _Chained. _I couldn't get past that part, seeing my baby like that. How could Loki let that happen? "Steve. We have to get up there." I said desperately.

Steve nodded. "I hear you. We may be able to stall. Maybe. Storm?" Storm appeared by our side." How do you feel about summoning a bit of lightning?"

Storm smiled without humor. "I can do that."

Steve turned back to me. "You ready?" I nodded. "CHARGE!" I heard him yell as he led the group of mutants toward the machine, running at top speed. Storm stayed next to me, her eyes glazing over as she pulled the atmosphere towards us. A lighting storm started, and I instantly felt more powerful.

I took off at top speed, meeting Magneto's army dead on. I spun, kicked, flipped, zapped. Everything I did I did to get to Rose. She was all I could see. Somewhere along the way I was able to disarm a mutant of a long blade, and I manipulated my fighting method to use the sword.

I was nearly there… Magneto and Rose were alone up there. All I had to do was get up there to release her. I would use Oberon's magic to free her. Anything I did I would do to free her, even if it meant my own death. I couldn't let her become corrupted by her father's greed… or killed.

I could vaguely make out Victor and Logan going at it near the entrance. Somehow they must have gotten up here. I didn't linger to find out. A crowd of the enemy and a hell hound stood in my way of the stairs. All I needed was a lift… but I didn't have one, and I was not about to use Oberon's powers for something so frivolous. I would need them to get Rose away from Magneto.

My chest burned from the exertion and the evil power that was poisoning me. I looked down at my hands briefly and noticed that they were turning a sickly gray. Like Oberon's had when… I wouldn't think about it. I had to keep pushing.

With another burst of energy, I jumped from the ground, spinning in the air and coming down behind the mutant group. I slashed the hell hound's throat, killing it instantly, and became absorbed in the battle around me. I cut down any enemy. I had to look deranged, but I didn't care. I was running out of time.

With a final kick and swing to my last opponent, I sensed a presence behind me. Without looking, I spun, blade ready to cut the person behind me's head off… but my silver blade met an icy one… and I was looking into red, Johtun eyes.

ooOOoo

"Hello, Love," Loki's voice reached my ears. His red eyes turned back to green as he took me in. My shirt- his shirt- was torn in different places, leaving skin that really shouldn't have been showing revealed. He licked his lips as he swung his blade around mine, the two of us pulling out of the blade lock. I glared at him, poised and ready to fight. He actually laughed. "Would you really kill me when we need to reach our daughter?"

I furrowed my brow. "Funny," I said as I attacked him and he parried it easily. "I was under the impression that she was right where you want her."

We fought, the two of us dodging each other's blows and returning them. I was vaguely aware of arrows zipping past us. Hawkeye must have found his weapon, then. It was getting harder to breathe!

I could see my hands, wrapped around the handle of the sword, turning an ashy gray. My forearms were too, and it was only spreading. Loki looked horrified and he stepped back. I rammed at him again. "Veronica." He grabbed my wrist, taking in the gray skin that surely felt like ash by now.

Before he could say anything more, though, i felt a rumble start and the machine powered up. It was starting. I glared at Loki one more time before ramming my elbow into his face, knocking him down. I didn't wait to see if he was getting up. I was too busy running for my baby.

ooOOoo

I slipped up the stairs quickly, my lungs burning. Magneto had not seemed to notice my presence and I waited to see how Rose was reacting. She was crying, but I could tell that the machine was making her weak. She was fighting it, but it wouldn't last long. Below us, the humans were starting to groan in pain. How could this be paradise? How could someone thrive off of so much death?

That person was evil, I decided.

I knew I didn't have long, and I stepped out in the open, summoning up Oberon's magic. This was it. I felt as though all the moments in my life had led up to this. I felt Loki's cold lips against mine in that law office the first time he had kissed me. I felt his weight atop me. I felt my baby in my arms, Tony's laughter, Hawkeye's jokes, Steve's gentleness… All of these sensations came back to me as I summoned what energy I had and prepared myself for my death.

I focused on blasting that bastard, Magneto, straight to hell where he belonged. When he saw me, he pulled a bit of metal and aimed it at my heart, sending it through the air like a bullet. I didn't flinch… and blocked it with a disc of magic as it shot straight for me. It should have been a killing blow. Fire erupted in my skull. This was it.

Magneto slung chunks of metal at me and I dodged each one. The fire that had reached my brain made me even more mentally alert, like adrenaline times a thousand.

"Mrs. Laufeyson, I am impressed," Magneto said and he sounded like he was coming from a tunnel.

I glared at him, somehow I knew my eyes were glowing an unearthly blue, just as Oberon's used to when he was fighting. I cocked my head to the side when Magneto looked slightly taken aback by my appearance. "Thank you, Magneto," I said and my voice echoed with a slight rasp to it, kind of like Mystique's had. "If I may be so bold- which I may as I am Loki's queen of equal standing to yourself" I mimicked what he had said to me when he threatened me that day with Rose. "Your ass is mine."

Magneto chuckled, but it was nervous. I smiled, thinking of what I was about to do. Rose was starting to get even more uncomfortable. I needed to act now. And then I knocked Magneto from the balcony, taking out the control panel for Rose's machine. The fall wouldn't kill him, but it would be enough for the Avengers to take him into custody.

I staggered, taking Rose's chains off of her, the machine humming as it warmed down.

"Mom!" I barely heard her as I fell to the ground. "Mommy?" I blinked. Everything was getting dark…

Then I felt cold hands checking my pulse. _Loki…_

"Darling, please. I never wanted any of this to-"

I silenced him, placing a trembling hand to his lips. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words would come.

I was so tired…

Loki had me in his arms, cold splashes of water dropped on my cheek as I realized he was crying. Loki? Crying?

"Veronica!" he said urgently. He was saying something else, but I couldn't make it out. I could hear the battle unfolding below me, the Avengers headed for a sure victory.

I was finished. I was done. This was it.

A blinding light appeared to my left. Wait. Wasn't that supposed to come after I died? The light at the end of the tunnel? But I still felt the burning in my veins, my head, now even my eyes.

What was up with this? Was death even trying to screw with me now?

And then I heard the unmistakable sound of the hooves of a horse and an image I had only seen in Eric Selvig's Norse Mythology books.

The knowledge that the All-father had arrived was the last thought I remembered before I lost all sense of time and space.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay! So…. Yeah, that was that. There will be a chapter or two more, just to tie loose ends up. But it won't be a happy ending like last time. Well, I guess that depends on your definition of happy… *shrugs* <strong>

**Please review! :D **


	30. Chapter 30

**Don't own Marvel.**

* * *

><p>"<em>I can't go on living this way<em>

_But I can't go back the way I came_

_Chained to this fear that I will never find_

_A way to heal my soul_

_And I will wander 'til the end of time_

_Half alive without you."_

_~'My Heart is Broken' by Evanescence_

* * *

><p>-Loki-<p>

The last thing Loki saw of his wife was the light leaving the depths of her crystal blue eyes. As her skin turned gray and she fell away from him, his tears came in torrents. He had never meant for any of this to happen! His putting her in the dungeons had been merely a way to keep her safe and out of the way while he executed the final plan. He had never dreamed it would come to this. He had just been trying to save her from herself and any stupid actions she would try to stop Magneto.

And now he felt the ground shake as the bifrost opened and the All-father appeared with an army twice the size of his own. How had all gone to hell in a matter of minutes? He kept Veronica's body close to his own, cold form. Rose was looking dejectedly at her mother.

He felt her hand come to rest on his shoulder. "Dad." That was all she said, but it was enough. Her mother's eyes peered out from hers, looking down at him. It was too much to bear! As Odin's army surrounded him, he did not release his wife. He clung to her limp frame until the guards took him to Hel knew where. Even then, he put up a struggle as they pried her from his arms.

He lost track of Rose somewhere along the way. She had been innocent in this. She would not be punished as he was sure to be. _Let them do as they wish. I have no more reason to be here anymore. _And it was true. The Avengers would shape and mold Rose to do as they wanted her to. That bothered him, slightly, but it was better than letting her live out on the streets.

And then he went to face his father, to meet his fate like a man.

~Veronica~

It was warm where I was. It was sweet and soft and perfect. I felt no pain. I felt no worry. It was simple really.

"Veronica Parker?"

My eyelids fluttered open to see a tall, aging woman dressed in a gold gown. Her golden hair was pulled back away from her face, and her blue eyes shone with love. They were Thor's eyes.

I sat up. "Yes." It was so simple an answer, but it was all that was required. I looked at her and she looked at me for what felt like forever.

Finally, she took in a breath. "I always knew he would find a strong one."

I cocked my head to the left. Then realization struck me. This was Frigga. Thor and Loki's mother. But why was she here? Wasn't she supposed to be in Asgard? "Why are you here, My Lady?"

She smiled again as she bent forward and helped me to my feet. "You fought well, dear." Her hands were warm, like my mother's had been. "It has been a long time since a mortal woman has been able to stand up to my son."

I shook my head. "I didn't-"

Frigga shushed me gently. "Dear one, it is not a bad thing."

I furrowed my brow in confusion. "But I'm dead."

Frigga nodded. "Well, yes and no. The gods have seen fit to allow you a time of passage, a time of choice, if you will. We all know that your daughter- Loki's child- will be left on earth alone once her father pays for his crimes." Frigga looked like she wanted to cry at this, but continued. "She will need guidance, one that only a mother can give."

Once again, I was puzzled. "But… my body. My body is all… gray and cracked. I can't return to it."

Frigga smiled at that. "Of course you can, Love. It is only a matter of your will to do so. You see, you can go on, give up the hardships of Midgard and join the fallen in Valhalla. Or," she paused. "You can return to whatever awaits you in Midgard."

_Whatever awaits me in Midgard? _"What will become of Loki?" I asked.

Frigga looked down at her hands. "What his brother and my husband will do, I do not know. All I know is that he will not remain on Midgard after his last attempt at power. He cannot be killed, but… he can be banished to a different realm for good."

I closed my eyes. He would be gone. Rose would need someone. I couldn't let her grow up without a mother. I wouldn't let her have the experience I had had. Steve and Tony and the others would take care of her; that much I knew. Everything seemed so far away, and the longer I stayed here, the more distant it grew. Even now, I felt as though I were seeing my memories through a fog.

I knew what I had to do. Frigga saw my decision in my eyes and I didn't even have to say it. "Your choice shall be honored. We will not meet again."

I only had time to bow to her before I was hurtling downward at the speed of light.

ooOOoo

"Clear!" That was the first thing I was aware of as a current of electricity shot through my body. 'Kathunk!' Before I could open my eyes, though, another shock went through my body. 'Kathunk!'

My eyes snapped open and I was looking up at a white ceiling being rolled down the hall on a gurney. A doctor worked next to me. "We got a response on this one!" I heard someone say, and it took me a minute to realize they were talking about me. I gasped for air as I tried to sit up. I felt fine, minus the feeling of being stepped on by an elephant. Who knew electrical energy was that brutal?

The doctor sat the defibrillator down as we made it to a room. "She still needs surgery on that wound." What wound? "Morphine going in in three, two…" That was all I heard before I went under again.

The only thoughts that went through my head were two names. _Loki… Rose…_

ooOOoo

I woke up in a shared hospital room. I was alive. There was no way that Valhalla could have put me in this much pain. Sure enough, my side twitched with pain. I looked down at it the bandage that wrapped around my waist.

"Lookie who it is," I heard someone say from across the room. It wasn't the voice that I wanted though. Hawkeye walked over to stand beside my bed. "We just can't seem to get rid of you, can we? Even Magneto seems to have tried. That piece of metal should have killed you." _So that's waht they thought had caused my to collapse... _The memory of Magneto shooting those bullet-like things at me surfaced. But I thought I had dodged them... Oh well. Oberon's powers must have made me less receptive to pain as well.

I rolled my eyes weakly, trying to sit up, but unable to. "Where's Loki." It sounded more like a statement than a question. Hawkeye's lips drew into a tight line. "Hawkeye…"

"Veronica!" I heard Tony's voice say from the doorway as he and Carter came running in. "Jesus, Sunshine, you sure know how to scare the shit out of a guy. I can see your complexion's all fixed up now."

I furrowed my brow. Oh yeah… my skin had turned really gray towards the… end.

I gave him a half-hearted smile. "What happened?"

Natasha, who had come in by this point, answered me. "We won. Magneto and a majority of the brotherhood are behind bars. Odin helped us out a lot, and we crushed the army within minutes. The rest- Victor included- have disappeared. But we'll get them eventually. You can count on that."

My head sank back into the pillows. "And Rose?"

Hawkeye chuckled. "Is fine. She's been worried sick about you though. We practically had to tie her down to stop her from pacing constantly. She's on her way up now that you are awake."

"How long… how long was I…" It was getting harder to think straight now. The morphine and anesthesia was messing with my mind.

"A few weeks. Your heart failed twice and you suffered severe amounts of blood-poisoning from an unknown substance. Your body fought it off though. You'll be back to your old demi-god, ass-kicking self in no time!" Carter said enthusiastically.

I smiled. "Which brings me back to Loki."

The room got really, really quiet. "Veronica…" Tony started.

"No. She deserves the truth," Hawkeye said gruffly. He took my hand as if to comfort me. " Thor's dad has sent him… away."

"Away." I said it plainly. "As in…"

"A far out realm that isn't even part of the original nine realms. It's a place of exhile that he can't get away from. Ever."

I closed my eyes, taking it all in. At least he wasn't dead. I knew I should be happy that it was over and that he wouldn't threaten us again. But the thought of never being with him again… never feeling those cold hands… or looking into those green eyes. It had me to the point of tears. But I would be strong. I had to.

_Several weeks later:_

I walked briskly down the hallway that led to the detention cells for SHIELD headquarters. My heels clicked against the ceramic tile floors. There was nothing metal in sight.I had a score to settle.

I passed through a set of metal detectors, stopping when Loki's ring set them off. I took it off hesitantly, passing it to the guard. "Take care of that." It was an order.

I proceeded through the sliding bullet-proof glass doors that would lead me to a large, dark room. Within it, a glass house-looking thing sat suspended over it. Everything was white in it… including the white head of Magneto. The bastard sat there playing chess with himself. I stepped onto a platform that would extend out in a tunnel-like thing to Magneto's cage.

The doors to his confinement area opened with a hiss and I stepped through. He looked up and smiled like a creep when he saw me. "Ah, Mrs. Laufeyson." I nodded curtly to him as I made my way to his chess table. All the pieces were made of glass, one side more frosted than the other. My side was the frosted one. "Do you play?"

I glared at him, but placed my hand over a pawn and moved it before sitting down across from him. "I have a few things I need answered," I said quietly.

Magneto moved a pawn opposite mine out two spaces. "Ask away, My dear. I have nothing better to do."

I bit my lip as I placed the tip of my finger on a knight, thought better of it, then moved to a pawn again. "Why?" I asked. One word, so simple. "Why the hell did you have to start all of this?"

The skin around Magneto's eyes crinkled as he smiled unnervingly at me. "We mutants had to stand for something, Mrs. Laufeyson, I am just sorry one as powerful as you had to miss out on it." As he spoke, he moved a knight out.

"That's not what I meant. I want to know why you targeted _him_." I couldn't bear the thought of saying his name. _He, _I had later found out, had been sent to exhile in a realm I had never heard of. For good. There was no going back. I pulled a rook out to a space behind the first pawn I had moved.

"He was a worthy ally, Mrs. Laufeyson, life is not always fair. Your little Rose just proved to be icing on the cake as the mutant that would lead to the human-race's downfall. I do believe that if you had joined us we would have succeeded. Instead, you decided to play along with SHIELD, give them what they wanted, stay under the command of futile humans." He spat the last word as he moved another piece- his queen- out to the center of the board to take my knight.

"I took a stand," I said as my bishop took his queen. "Say, whatever came of Mystique?"

Magneto looked at me sideways, steepling his fingers as he deliberated his next move. "She is here. Somewhere in confinement with the rest of the Brotherhood."

I smirked as he settled for moving a pawn a space. "Too bad. She might have rescued you." I sent my queen out onto the board.

"Mrs. Laufeyson," he said. His voice was no longer amused. "You think you have won, do you not? I can see it in your eyes. Yes, you have experienced loss. Oh, I can see that right away. You are about to enter into a very difficult time. You will have to fend for yourself and for your daughter as her powers become more prominent and she grows in proficiency. SHIELD will come for her eventually. Mark my words. She is the daughter of a traitor. A traitor that has been sent to rot God knows where by his own father. Think on that, Mrs. Laufeyson." With a deft hand, Magneto took my queen, placing me in checkmate. That unnerving smile touched his eyes again, but did not reach his lips as he looked back up to me. "Checkmate, Mrs. Laufeyson."

I got up, turned on my heel, and walked out of the high-security vault. If I opened my mouth again to speak... I wasn't sure what I would say, what I would do.

As I slipped my ring back on my finger, I could have sworn I felt a cold chill travel up my spine… so much like _his_ hands once had….

* * *

><p><strong>Bear. With. Me! Please :D I promise, the ending will explain all. As far as the ending, im not sure how much more we have to go, a chapter and an epilogue, maybe? Yeah… that sounds right. But it will be done by Friday, so that's good news, yes? <strong>

**Also, the song that went with this chapter has pretty much become my theme for this whole story. If you get the chance, look it up. The music is perfect and the lyrics match this couple perfectly. Check it out! **

**~Sirius **


	31. Chapter 31

**Don't own Marvel... but I do happen to own tickets to see the Avengers! :D**

* * *

><p>"<em>Well you are my accuser, now look in my face,<em>

_Your oppression reeks of your greed and disgrace'_

_~ 'Dust Bowl Dance' by Mumford and Sons_

* * *

><p>~Veronica~<p>

After my little chat with Magneto, I went back to the break room. Rose was sitting there, trying to make sense of the schoolwork Coulson had made her do. He still seemed to be pretty intent on making sure she was safe. He wouldn't ever admit it, but I could sense he had a soft spot for my now teenage daughter.

"God, Mom." She sounded so much like me, but with a more fluid form of speaking that she only could have gotten from her father. "I can't stand this Al-geb-ra." She said the word unsurely, but when I looked down at her work it was void of any terrible mistakes.

"That's a shame, sweetie, because it looks like you are getting it just fine." She rolled her eyes, pushing her long black hair behind her ear.

I poured myself a cup of coffee and sat down across from her. "Do you miss him?" she asked timidly. I looked up from my drink.

"Yes," I admitted. "But, you never know. He may change. Things could get better." I knew it was an empty hope, signified by empty words. Rose could sense it too.

"I never really knew him. I guess… I find it weird that he was capable of-" She was struggling to find the right words.

"Capable of love?" She bit her lip and nodded as she set her pencil down on her workbook. I let out a breath before answering her. "He was good at heart, Rosie. I can promise you that. I think he just kind of lost it there when you were born." A small look of hurt crossed her features. "Not because of you. Never because of you." I continued on hurriedly, trying to make amends for the seemingly heartless comment. "SHIELD… the organization that we are in right now was monitoring you very closely. When you were born… they knew you were special."

"I'm special." She said it monotonously, like she couldn't accept it.

I nodded. "You're unique, Rose. Your father and I- we loved each other very much. I want you to know that first off. You were conceived in love and we welcomed you with open arms. There was never anything concerning you that tore us apart. I want that clear to you."

Rose nodded, crossing her arms and propping her elbows on the table. "Tony's kind of already given me the birds and bees speech, Mom."

I rolled my eyes. I would have a word with Tony when I was done here. "That's not what I am getting at." I hated this quality about me. I could never find the right words when I needed them most. "Loki and I contributed to your genetic make-up. You have some of my powers and you have some of his. As a god, his DNA is stronger than that of a normal human. Rose, you are perhaps the most powerful mutant on Midgard right now."

"I… I don't want that."

"I know," I said as I reached over to tuck a stubborn lock of hair behind her ear. "But it's what you've been given. Your father was unable to accept that. When he found out his true heritage as a Johtun he… something snapped. He could not come to grips with the idea that he was different. Rose, who ever said different can't be beautiful?" I pulled her right hand from beneath the table and turned the palm-side up, tracing the faded blue circle that marked her Johtun qualities. "You have been given a remarkable gift. You can make the most of it, or you can slip into the same hole that Loki did." I wasn't sure what else to say. I had not had this big of a parent moment with her. Ever. But I think she understood what I was saying.

"Thanks, Mom," she said quietly. I smiled then, pecking her on the cheek.

"I'll leave you to your work, then. Don't want to piss the Coulson off when he sees your homework isn't done."

ooOOoo

Thor had returned to Asgard after all had been deemed well in our realm. Several months later, we had gotten word that Jane had given birth to a healthy baby boy. In her letters, we were able to figure out that he looked exactly like Thor, minus the beard. I had fought back bitter tears that I knew I didn't deserve to shed as I had pictured the happy family. The healthy family.

I set her letter to me down and crawled under the sheets of my bed. I had decided to stay at SHIELD since I didn't have anywhere else to go. Rose was safe here for now, and I was too. The steady income was a welcome thing to have too…

I don't know how long I lay there. An hour? A minute? But what happened next broke me from my doze.

_Veronica…_

I sat bolt upright in bed when I heard his voice. I had erupted in a cold sweat and the sheets clung to me. "Loki?" I whispered.

The darkness of my room was all that answered me. It had just been a dream… but I could still feel cold fingers against my flesh… No. No one was here.

I lay back down, my breath finally slowing before I fell asleep.

-Loki-

Despite Loki's present location, he was still able to channel enough of his thoughts towards Midgard. At first, he had been unsure as to whether Veronica would be able to sense him, but now he was positive. He looked down at her now sleeping form from the void of his thoughts. She had woken up when he had spoken her name. Through such a great distance, that was truly amazing.

For Loki, it kept his hope alive. He had accepted his punishment, thinking her to be dead. He had left willingly as his father had banished him to this hell-hole. He was not even sure where he was. Oh, but he knew where _she_ was.

Just the thought of her comforted him and he sank down onto a couch in the corner of the apartment he had constructed for himself. He was a patient man, after all, and, as the Midgardian saying went, good things came to those who were willing to wait.

* * *

><p><strong>And that is the last chapter until the epilogue, guys! I'm sorry for it being short, but this just felt right. The epilogue will be up very soon. I already have it written, I just need to post it. *hint hint nudge nudge wink wink* <strong>


	32. Epilogue

**Don't own Marvel...**

* * *

><p>"<em>Now I know we said things, did things that we didn't mean<em>

_And we fall back into the same patterns, same routine_

_But your temper's just as bad as mine is_

_You're the same as me_

_But when it comes to love you're just as blinded."_

_~ 'Love the Way You Lie' by Eminem and Rhianna_

* * *

><p>~Veronica~<p>

_Fifty years later:_

The streets of New York were busy and bustling, even at ten o'clock at night. I pulled my coat tighter around my body- the same leather coat I had worn fifty years ago… when _he_ had been with me. New York really hadn't changed much in the past decades. It still consisted of the same towering skyscrapers and blinding lights that blotted out the stars in the night sky.

My apartment was just down the street and my pace picked up as I passed the spot that _he _had saved me from those thugs all those years ago. I pushed on. Tonight I didn't see anyone.

I didn't work for SHIELD anymore. The organization was still around, or so I had heard, but it was not nearly as prominent as it had been. It focused more on keeping the remaining mutants captured during the war behind bars.

Victor- for example- had been caught after a year of searching through the woods of Europe. Logan and I had brought him in, actually. That had been my last mission for SHIELD. Soon after that, Rose's powers had become more dominant. Fury had tried to intervene with her- and it brought back too many memories of how Magneto had tried to use her. After that, we had disappeared under the radar.

I had kept in touch with the actual Avengers. Though most of the team was dead now. My demi-god powers had kept me young, despite the years that went by. Steve's super soldier qualities had caused him to age a bit slower than the others, but he looked like he could be sixty now instead of twenty-five. I hadn't seen him for a while. The others were long gone. Logan, though, was still the same old gruff mutant that I had known fifty years ago. The bad news was that so was Victor. Victor had escaped twice from SHIELD, each time being brought back in by Logan. I was beginning to wonder if it was a game to Victor. It sure seemed like it. He had tried to take my life during one of his breakouts too. The wind blew strong and whipped my chin-length hair into my eyes. I pushed it back hurriedly, never breaking pace.

Then the wind died down completely.

An even colder chill made my senses perk up though. Ever since Loki had been gone, I had caught feelings of his presence from time to time. Often, I would chalk it up to wishful thinking. But there had been times- especially when I had been working for SHIELD- when all would be quiet and I could swear I would feel him. The room would be a bit colder, or goose bumps would rise on my arms for no reason in particular. Then there had been the few times I had actually heard my name…

I shook my head. I had long ago accepted that he wouldn't be back. There was no chance of it. And perhaps it would be for the best…

I reached the top of my stairs and pulled out my keys to unlock the door… The door was already unlocked, slightly ajar.

_Shit. _

My thoughts immediately flashed to Victor. Had he escaped again? I pulled out a pistol from my coat pocket, preparing it and holding it at the ready with both hands. I allowed it to lead me into the main room.

God, my apartment was cold. I tried to turn the lights on, but when I flipped the switch, nothing happened. The sinking feeling that had been in my gut now felt like a black hole. I swallowed. Should I go in? Logan was in England right now with Rose. He couldn't help me if this was Victor…

But another thought surfaced… the cold air, the cold room… What if this was Loki?

Better not take the chance. I braced myself, moving through the apartment with my finger poised at the trigger. Then a rustling by the window nearly made me pee myself. I was really out of practice when it came to being brave. I had spent so long in hiding.

Movement again from the chair in the corner by the window. Street light poured in, casting the figure's face in shadow.

Even if he had not spoken I would have known it was him.

"Veronica." It was a statement. No emotions were reflected within it, just my name, plain as day.

"Loki," I responded. I heard a light snort come from the seat by the window before the figure in the chair stood up to face me. I bit my lip, crossing my arms. "What are you doing here?"

He walked right up to me then. "I needed to talk to you."

"How are you here?"

He tugged at my short hair. "… Always talking… always searching, aren't we?"

He ran his lips over my cheek, and I tensed. There was no tenderness in the action and it disturbed me. "Loki…" What was I going to say? That the original Avengers minus Steve and Logan were all dead now? That fifty years had passed on Midgard while he had been imprisoned? Rose's demi-god form had kept her young as the years had passed and she had taken over Xavier's school when he had died. That's where she was now. I offered a silent prayer that she had not been here when he had made his appearance.

"But if you must know, your presence brought me back." He brought the wrist that bore his mark up to his lips, planting a kiss where he had once burned me. "This little mark has many conveniences. It allowed me to return to you with the right tweakings of a particular spell, even from that hell-realm I was in."

I pulled my hand away, still bothered by the almost animal like way he was looking at me.

He trailed a freezing hand over my collarbone as he walked around behind me. I felt cold arms snake around my waist, squeezing me tightly against his chest, almost to the point of pain. I felt his breath and lips on my hair and a small moan came from his chest. "Where is Rose?"

I shivered as his teeth grazed my earlobe, never answering him. He didn't need one, apparently. With a jerk of his wrist, he spun me around to face him. I let out a gasp as he brought his lips to mine in a bruising kiss. There it was again, that animal-like urgency. But something was still missing… I kissed him back in the same violent way.

Defiantly, I brought my fists up and slammed them hard into his chest, knocking him back several feet. I hit him again. Nothing in my mind registered how wrong this was, how sick I was being. I needed him to hit me back, to prove to myself that he was just as evil as I was when it came to our relationship… after all I had done to defeat him- even going so far as to make a deal with Oberon- I needed my punishment. The back of his knees hit the edge of the bed. All it took was for me to lean into him, pushing him down on his back. I hovered over him, an evil glint in his eye.

"Veronica," he whispered as his fingers dug into my sides. I cocked my head slightly.

I planted a gentle kiss on his lips.

"You will take me back after all this time? After all I've done?" he asked quietly. I shifted and he groaned.

"I… I need you. I love you, as much as I wish I didn't. You are part of me." The sentences nearly ran together as I spoke them.

I saw him smirk in the dim, frigid air. "I know," he said as he sat up, pushing me off of him and standing up. "And I know that you want me to be good. But I will never be." I stopped him in his tracks and grabbed his hand, pulling him down on top of me. I flinched as the contact of his body jarred mine. This was what I needed though. To feel. "And here I thought I was the one that liked to play rough," he muttered into my neck. I felt my head drop back as he planted freezing kisses down the length of my throat, stopping at the fabric of my shirt. His hands traveled up and under the fabric, snaking across my belly…

My eyelids fluttered and I felt a burning sensation wherever our skin touched – like frost-bite, an aftereffect of Oberon's poisoned magic in my system, no doubt. A slight hiss escaped from the seared flesh. But the pain was not unpleasant. It had been so long since I had been with him…

Somehow we managed to get undressed without breaking contact with one another and I shivered against his freezing bare chest. The electricity was still not on and Loki did not seem to intend on turning it on anytime soon. The room was freezing, let alone the man that was on top of me.

Then the realization hit me. I had not felt this alive since before Rose had been born. The feeling came from him

Loki was part of me. Loki was mine. I was his. We had been through so much, we needed each other to feel whole again. After fifty years I had finally come to that conclusion. Fifty years of searching for the very thing I had always had under my nose. "You can't change me," he said breathlessly in my ear. "I will always be the trickster."

"Then lie to me," I whispered back.

And then I succumbed to him, one last and final time.

* * *

><p><strong>Ta-daaaa *waves hand awkwardly* <strong>

**Yeah. Hopefully that was a good way to end things. I thought so, but then again what do I know? **

**As far as this little couple, I am sad to say that their story ends here. It's up to you as a reader to decide what happens after. I like those kinds of endings, don't know about yall, but… yeah. **

**I cannot say how honored I am by the amount of support I have received for this series. Really, you are all just so wonderful! I will truly miss this! **

**Just throwing this out there for those that have been following the other Loki/OC thing I started, but now that this is finished, I will be working on 'Deep and Dark and Dangerous' a bit more. Maybe I'll see some familiar names? Haha **

**Thank you all so very much for your support, **

**~Sirius **


End file.
